Panther softball remains undefeated in their first eight games.
After beating their first five opponents by a combined score of 59-19, on the week of March 18 Franklin continued their barnstorming tour. With wins over Hiwassee Dam and conference foes North Henderson and Pisgah, Bobby Bishop’s team led the Mountain Seven standings at 5-0.
On Tuesday, March 19, the team traveled to Pisgah to take on the archrival Black Bears. There, the game stayed quiet in the early goings, with Franklin leading 1-0 after three innings. The Panthers dominated from there however, scoring 12 runs in the final four innings en route to a 13-4 win.
Senior Avery Moffitt and sophomore Kendall Rumans both homered in the game, bringing their individual totals for the season to seven and five, respectively. Junior Jozy Dehart batted 1.000 with four hits in four at-bats, while senior Laura Holland knocked a single, a double and a triple.
“We hit it really good again,” said Bishop of the team’s offensive hot streak. “We hit two more home runs, got a bunch more base hits and played really good defense, so we did well.”
After routing Pisgah, the next night the Panthers returned to Macon Middle School for a difficult non-conference game with Hiwassee Dam. There, the Eagles got on the board early, turning a double and two singles into a 1-0 first-inning lead.
Franklin answered in the bottom of the inning, getting a standup leadoff triple from sophomore shortstop Ashlyn McConnell. Rumans drove in McConnell with a double and advanced to third on the throw, then scored herself on a groundball out to make it 2-1.
Rumans put the Panthers up 3-1 in the third, knocking a two-out single, stealing second and coming home on a single by Moffitt. The Eagles responded in the top of the fifth, cutting their deficit to 3-2 with a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a single and a double.
After a three-strikeout, 1-2-3 top of the sixth from Rumans on the mound, Franklin gave themselves some breathing room in the next frame. There, senior Meyaeh Tran reached first on an error, moved to second on a Holland walk, then scored on a single from freshman third-baseman Layla Maloy.
Down 4-2, Hiwassee Dam made a curious decision in the seventh, drawing a leadoff walk and moving the runner over with a sacrifice bunt. Franklin retired the final two Eagles with a Rumans strikeout and an impressive line-drive catch from McConnell.
“I knew that that pitcher would be really good because she pitched against us last year in both games,” said Bishop of flamethrowing Eagle junior Olivia McNabb. “She’s probably the best pitcher in that conference over there, and she would probably be one of the best pitchers in our conference if she was over here … It was good for us to be in a game like that and face a good pitcher because like I told them, I said ‘Even in the playoffs, you may not face anyone that throws harder than that.’”