Only once before had Franklin softball beaten Transylvania on the road twice in a season — but never had the Grizzlies managed the feat in one day.
Until Thursday, anyway.
Buoyed by several clutch hitting and pitching efforts, the Grizzlies bumped the Pioneers out of a three-way tie atop the HCAC standings with 5-2 and 7-4 victories.
Franklin (29-9, 13-3 HCAC) had last won two at Transy in 2018, when it split the regular-season doubleheader and defeated the Pioneers, 1-0, in the championship game of the conference tournament. But this sweep represents a program first.
"They put the bat on the ball all day and trusted each other," Griz coach Britt Harvey said. "Everyone stepped up and did their job today."
Transylvania struck first in the opener, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Franklin hurler
Lauren Duncan shut the Pioneers down the rest of the way and her offense picked her up late.
Jasmine Day got the Grizzlies on the board in the sixth when she tagged and scored on a
Kendall Lowry foul out. Liv Staigl followed with the go-ahead hit, a two-run double into center field.
The Griz tacked on some insurance in the seventh on an RBI double by
Jaylee Fansler and a run-scoring single by Lowry; Duncan finished the job with a 1-2-3 frame.
Duncan held the Pioneers to five hits, including just two after the first inning. She struck out seven without issuing a walk.
No comeback was necessary in game two, which Franklin led the whole way after Lowry's two-run double broke the ice in the third inning.
Zoey Kugelman added an RBI single in the fourth, and the Griz added three runs in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk to
McKenna Lucas and a fielder's choice by
Kaylee Stewart that plated Staigl and
Hadley Fuhrman.
The Pioneers rallied to score four runs in the fifth inning, but Lowry provided some insurance with a run-scoring double in the sixth inning and freshman
Rylan Young faced the minimum six batters over the last two innings to save the win for Kugelman, who pitched the first four-plus innings.
Staigl and Kugelman each had four of the Grizzlies' 23 hits on the day, with Fansler, Lowry and Stewart adding three apiece on a day when Franklin had no shortage of heroes.
"Lauren commanded the mound game one and Zoey and Ry teamed up and did their job game two," Harvey said. "(Fuhrman), Liv and Kendall stepped up and pushed some runs through for us."
Franklin finishes the regular season on Saturday afternoon with a home doubleheader against HCAC co-leader Mount St. Joseph. A split guarantees the Grizzlies the top seed in next week's conference tournament, while a sweep would give the team its first outright HCAC regular-season championship and tie the school's single-season record for wins (31, set in 2023).
