Panther softball had no shortage of talent in 2023.
With nine All-Mountain Seven Conference players (seven First Team and two Honorable Mentions), six N.C. Softball Coaches’ Association All-District players, four NCSCA All-State selections and a conference Coach of the Year award for Bobby Bishop, Franklin boasted one of the most loaded teams in WNC this spring. This was despite losing two of their best players, catcher Olivia Birchard and infielder Abby Carpenter, to injury for most of the season. Last week, The Franklin Press recounted the seasons of four of these nine Panthers, with the final five listed below in alphabetical order.
Avery Moffitt
One of Franklin’s most dangerous hitters and its trusty backstop behind the plate, Avery Moffitt was more than worthy of her All-State selection this spring.
At the plate, Moffitt was a true heart-of-the-order threat, finishing third among Panthers with more than 10 plate appearances in batting average (.461), hits (35) and RBIs (25). In addition to average, the junior was also one of the team’s most powerful hitters, finishing third with 16 extra-base hits including three home runs. Her .776 slugging percentage was the ninth-best in the conference.
Defensively, after an excellent sophomore year in center field, Moffitt was also one of the conference’s best catchers despite not having planned to play the position. When multiple injuries left the junior as the team’s only healthy catcher early in the season, Moffitt was pressed into service unexpectedly, but still looked right at home in the game’s most physical defensive position. In 84 total chances, Moffitt recorded 73 putouts, 10 assists and just one error, good for a near-perfect .988 fielding percentage.
“Great kid, great attitude, two-year starter,” said Bishop. “She started out at DH [designated hitter] her freshman year, and then when McKenzie [Redoutey] got hurt I had to put her in center field, and she did a great job. I had planned on playing her there again last year, but when our catchers went down she had to move back there, and she did a great job back there.”
Kendall Rumans
As two of just six freshmen named to this year’s 3A All-State team, Kendall Rumans and Ashlyn McConnell represent an extremely bright future for Franklin.
On offense, Rumans stepped onto the field as one of the Mountain Seven’s best hitters, finishing second among Panthers and third conference-wide with a .973 slugging percentage. Often batting with Tori Ensley on base, Rumans’ 46 RBIs were 17 more than any other Panther, while her .493 average, 37 hits and 20 extra-base hits were second only to the N.C. State commit. With seven home runs on the year, the freshman was a threat to leave the park every time she stepped to the plate, but none were bigger than her seventh-inning walk-off grand slam to beat West Henderson at Macon Middle School March 31.
On defense, Rumans was perhaps even more valuable to her team, pitching 82 and two thirds of the team’s 140 total innings and finishing fourth in the conference with a 3.47 earned runs average. In 15 appearances, the freshman showed true swing-and-miss stuff, dealing 62 strikeouts and just 36 walks en route to a stellar 10-2 record. When not on the mound, Rumans traded places with fellow pitcher Meyaeh Tran at third base, posting 22 putouts and 36 assists in 62 total chances.
“Both were freshmen, but didn’t play like freshmen,” said Bishop of Rumans and McConnell. “[Kendall] pitched a lot of great games, played some good third base – she could have played first base and probably could have played in the outfield if I needed her to. Very quiet kid, doesn’t say a whole lot, but I didn’t ask her, ‘Would you play third?’ I just said, ‘Take some groundballs at third,’ and she never questioned me, never said nothing. For a freshman, she did extremely well this year.”
Meyaeh Tran
Rumans’ partner in crime on the mound and at third base, Meyaeh Tran was an integral part of the team’s success this spring.
Despite not hitting at the top of Franklin’s order, Tran did anything but give pitchers a break in 2023, finishing fifth on the team with 17 RBIs and sixth with 20 hits. One of six Panthers to record a home run this season, Tran’s long ball helped her team to a 9-1 victory over Pisgah March 21 at Macon Middle School.
Despite her power at the plate, Tran’s biggest service to the team came on the mound, where she led the Mountain Seven with a 2.56 earned runs average for the season (Tuscola’s Addi Sampson finished with a 2.57). In 57 and one third innings, Tran helped Franklin end the year with the conference’s lowest total runs against (31), dealing 22 strikeouts, just eight walks and a .318 opponent batting average. Tran also provided excellent defense at third base, committing just one error in 56 total chances for a .982 fielding percentage.
“Meyaeh did a great job at third and a great job pitching,” said Bishop. “Meyaeh could have played other infield positions – I could have probably played her at second or first, and this coming year she may have to play a few different positions. ... I think her bat improved a ton this year – not that she wasn’t pretty good, but it improved a lot, especially average-wise. She hit the one home run, which I think may have been her first [on varsity], but another great kid with a great attitude.”
Honorable Mentions
While each team is only allowed so many All-Conference First Team nominations, Bree Carver and Delaney Stiles were more than deserving of the honor this year. At first base, Carver was far and away the team’s busiest fielder, easily leading the team with 128 putouts in 145 total chances. On offense, the junior finished sixth on the team with 13 RBIs and 17 runs scored, and also showed off solid power with four extra-base hits.
In left field, Delaney Stiles was not nearly as busy as Carver, but still managed six putouts and one assist on nine total chances. At the plate, Stiles also displayed home run power, finishing the year with seven extra-base hits including a homer in Franklin’s 17-0 dismantling of Smoky Mountain April 28.
“Bree had started the year before and had to pitch for us because Meyaeh got hurt, but luckily she was able to stay at first all year, did a great job over there and hit the ball good,” said Bishop. “Delaney wound up starting and did a great job, and not only did a great job, but her hitting probably improved as much as anybody’s did. By the end of the season, I just felt confident with [them] being in there, and when you’ve got girls down in the bottom of the lineup that hit seven, eight and nine and you feel confident that they’re gonna get a hit, it’s a lot easier to get back to the top of the lineup.”