Less than a week after successfully navigating a must-win game against Mount St. Joseph to win a share of its first HCAC regular-season championship, Franklin softball found itself facing another one on Friday afternoon.
The result wasn't what the Grizzlies desired, as one of the most successful seasons in school history came to an end with a 9-4 loss to the Lions in an HCAC tournament elimination game between the top two seeds in the field.
No. 1 seed Franklin ends the year with a 30-12 record, their third 30-win campaign ever.
The Grizzlies got off on the right foot, responding to a first-inning run by MSJ with three of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Jasmine Day reached on a one-out infield hit and
Jaylee Fansler followed with a walk, with both scoring on a double to left center by
Kendall Lowry. The Franklin catcher then advanced to third on a
Ruth Kaiser single and scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Liv Staigl.
Mount St. Joseph, though, tied the game with two runs in the third inning, went ahead 4-3 in the fourth and then seized control with five runs in the fifth.
Franklin got one run in the bottom of the fifth when Day led off with a double and scored on a two-bagger by Lowry, but MSJ reliever Lesleigh Reimers — who came in after Lowry's two-run double in the first inning — kept the Grizzlies in check the rest of the way.
Lowry had three of the seven Griz hits, all of them doubles, with Day adding a pair.Â
With the season reaching its end, Franklin bids farewell to eight seniors:
Abri Carey,
Kamzi Gross,
Hadley Fuhrman,
Hannah Laughlin,
Brooke Lipperd,
Alyssa Pasch,
Karrsen Pruitt and
Kaylee Stewart. The Grizzlies are set to return seven starters from the regular lineup along with pitchers
Lauren Duncan,
Rylan Young and
Zoey Kugelman.
