Franklin softball no longer has a perfect HCAC record after Saturday's trip to Manchester, but the Grizzlies still have the top spot in the conference standings.

Riding a clutch hit from Hadley Fuhrman and a strong pitching outing from Lauren Duncan, Franklin won the first half of the doubleheader 2-1 before the Spartans rallied to steal a 7-6 walkoff victory on the back half.

The Grizzlies are 27-7 overall and 11-1 in league play, one game up on Transylvania and Mount St. Joseph.

Manchester took a 1-0 lead against Duncan in the opener before Franklin struck back with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Jaylee Fansler and Kendall Lowry started the frame with back-to-back singles, and Liv Staigl moved Fansler and courtesy runner Alyssa Pasch into scoring position with a groundout. Then, facing an 0-2 count with two out, Fuhrman found the gap in left center field for a two-run double.

Duncan held the fort from there, getting through the fifth and sixth innings in 1-2-3 fashion before stranding the tying and winning runs on second and third in the bottom of the seventh. The junior scattered five hits and a pair of walks while striking out five, improving to 12-2 on the season.

In the nightcap, the Griz took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on a two-run single by Zoey Kugelman and then made it 6-3 with RBI groundouts by Fuhrman in the fifth inning and Lowry in the sixth. But the Spartans had the last word, collecting five hits in the seventh inning and scoring the winning run on an error.

Ruth Kaiser and Kaylee Stewart each had three hits on the day for the Grizzlies, who return home to Behrens Field on Sunday for a doubleheader against Earlham.