Panther softball is on a tear.
After routing Pisgah 7-0 March 14, the following week the team faced a unique slate of games. With three more convincing wins they extended their streak to four in a row, aided by a record-tying performance from Kendall Rumans.
On March 18, they traveled to North Henderson for a conference clash with the Knights. There the Panthers made quick work of their opponents, leading 15-0 after six innings to trigger the mercy rule.
Junior Kendall Rumans filled up the stat sheet in the win, going 2-for-2 at the plate with two home runs and three walks. Junior Makayla Pendergrass posted a triple and five RBIs, while freshman Suzanna Cabe added three hits. Having pitched nearly all of Franklin’s innings to that point, posting a whopping 53 strikeouts in their previous five games, Cabe earned some much-needed rest against the Knights.
“Layla Maloy came in from third base and pitched an inning for us at North Henderson,” said head coach Bobby Bishop. “Suzanna pitched I think three and Kendall pitched two, and then Layla pitched one or something like that. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but we’re trying to give Suzanna a little bit of a rest because we’ve got a big three-game stretch next week.”
In routing the Knights, Franklin improved their conference record to 4-0, where they ended the week atop the Mountain Seven standings. Sitting just behind the Panthers at 3-0, West Henderson will travel to Franklin March 28 for a first-place showdown.
The next night, the Panthers returned home for an unusual matchup, a midweek nonconference doubleheader with Hiwassee Dam. Amid ongoing renovations to the Eagles’ stadium, both teams agreed to condense their previously scheduled series.
“The reason we had to play a doubleheader was because they’re kind of like we are at the high school – they’ve got some construction going on and a retaining wall,” said Bishop. “I don’t think there’s [anything] wrong with their field, but everything around it, there’s blocks. … He [Eagle head coach Chet Kendall] called me a few weeks ago – we had home and away – and he said, ‘Do you care if we play two there? It’ll work out better for us, and we don’t mind to come over there and play you two five-inning games.’”
After consulting with umpires regarding the plan’s legality, both teams met on a windy day at Macon Middle School. Franklin shot out of the gate in the first game, scoring two runs in the first, one in the second and two more in the third. The Eagles finally got on the board in the fifth, but managed just one run en route to a 5-1 defeat. Cabe went the distance on the mound for the Panthers, dealing 10 strikeouts and allowing just two hits. Rumans led Franklin at the plate once again, going 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored.
The Panther bats stayed hot in the second game, plating three runs in the first and another in the second. In the top of the third the Eagles cut Franklin’s lead to two, but went on to lose 8-2. The wins improved Franklin’s record to 8-3 overall.
“They’re not a bad team for a 1A school – good competition, better than some of the other teams in our conference, for sure,” said Bishop after the games. “I knew that that the girl that started the first game was gonna throw the ball pretty hard, and we needed to see that because we’ve got some games coming up where the pitchers are gonna throw the ball pretty hard. … We hit the ball good, and laid down some good bunts.”
With a fourth-inning two-run shot for her third home run of the week, Rumans improved her career total to 28, breaking a second-place tie with 2023 grad Tori Ensley to match 2018 grad Haeli Bryson for Franklin’s all-time record. Rumans broke another Bryson record with her 101st RBI March 11, and remains less than halfway through her junior season. Following the doubleheader, the team prepared for a tough week ahead.
“We’ll be off tomorrow and Friday and all weekend, so [we’ll] get four days of good rest, and then we’ve got two big conference games and a big nonconference game next week,” said Bishop. “We play Smoky on Monday over there … and then Wednesday we go to Brevard. Unless they lost today, they haven’t been beat – they were like 8-0 going into today. They were playing Pisgah today, which should be a good game. As of today West was also 8-0 I think, and we play them next Friday here, so we’re gonna play a couple of really good teams next week.”