The good times keep rolling for Panther softball.
Entering the week of March 24 on a four-game win streak, the team geared up for another busy slate, including matchups with nine-win teams in West Henderson and Brevard. In routing West they extended their streak to seven straight, ending the week as clear frontrunners in the Mountain Seven Conference.
On Monday, March 24, the Panthers traveled to Sylva for a conference game with Smoky Mountain. There the Mustangs kept Frankin at bay in the early innings, ceding just one run apiece in the first and second. The Panther bats soon heated up however, plating four runs apiece in the fourth and fifth to win the game 10-0. The win improved Franklin to 5-0 in the Mountain Seven.
Ashlyn McConnell led Franklin at the plate Monday, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Freshman Suzanna Cabe pitched another gem on the mound, going the distance with five innings of no-hit, seven-strikeout ball. She also went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
After routing Smoky, on Wednesday they traveled to Brevard for a nonconference game, locking horns with the one-loss Blue Devils. Having ended the first inning tied 2-2, Franklin retook the lead in the second, exploding for five more runs to make it 7-2.
Brevard refused to go quietly from there, posting a run in the third and a grand slam in the fifth to re-tie the game at seven. Franklin heated back up in the seventh however, plating five runs in the final inning to win 12-7.
Kendall Rumans vexed Brevard’s pitcher throughout, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs scored. McConnell finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored. In the field Franklin committed just one error to Brevard’s eight.
“We went to Brevard on Wednesday and played a really good team. Brevard hadn’t lost but one, and they were 9-1,” said head coach Bobby Bishop. “I’d lined it up that way – I said, ‘We need to play a good team before we play [West], even a nonconference.’ We played well and hit the ball good over there ... and that’s what I told them – I said, ‘If we keep hitting and scoring, the pitcher don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to play perfect defense. You’ve just got to play good enough.’”
After the win in Transylvania County, on Friday the Panthers returned to Macon Middle School for a Mountain Seven showdown with West. Entering the game as the first-place Panthers’ chief conference rival, the 3-0 Falcons needed a win to keep pace.
Rumans opened the scoring in the first, knocking a double, advancing to third on a groundout and scoring on a Jozy Dehart single.
West authored a two-out rally in the third, taking the lead with a single and a two-run homer. In the fifth they extended their lead to 3-1 with a single, a tag up and two Panther errors.
Franklin responded in the bottom of the inning, retaking the lead with a hit batter, an Anna Stiles single and a three-run homer from McConnell to right-center.
Layla Maloy kept the line moving from there, knocking a two-out double and scoring on a single from Makayla Pendergrass. Moments later Meliah Mason belted the first pitch she saw to straightaway center for Franklin’s second home run of the inning.
Leading 7-3 after their monster six-run inning, Franklin kept their foot on the pedal in the sixth, loading the bases with a Cabe double, a McConnell single and a Dehart walk. Maloy then drew a bases-loaded walk before Pendergrass reached on an error for two more runs. West added another run in the seventh, but ultimately fell 10-4. In dealing the 9-0 Falcons their first loss of the season, Franklin improved to 11-3 overall and 6-0 in the Mountain Seven.
“They’re putting in the work. I told them, I said, ‘Girls, we can win this conference and get – maybe not a number one seed – but one of the upper seeds, and play here a lot [in the state playoffs],” said Bishop. “But, we’ve got to hit the ball. We ain’t gonna give up a bunch of runs, but just like at Brevard the other night, they hit the ball. One girl hit a grand slam and a two-run homer, drove in six of their seven runs with two swings of the bat, and she was a damn good hitter. But I told them, we’ve just got to hit and score runs.”
Following the win over West, Franklin had 10 days to prepare for their next game, taking a week off for Spring Break before traveling to Pisgah April 7. There the rivals will rehash the Panthers’ 7-0 win over the Black Bears in Franklin March 14.