Franklin’s softball team could have gone into a tailspin after giving away a three-run lead in Wednesday’s Class 4A sectional semifinal against rival Whiteland.
The Grizzly Cubs, though, kept their composure and pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh for a 6-4 triumph.
Franklin (16-8) will play in tonight’s championship game against host Center Grove, which held off Martinsville by the same 6-4 count in the other semifinal behind three hits and three RBIs from Addison Osborn.
Izzy Harrison, who was 3 for 3 in addition to being the winning pitcher, led off the final inning with a walk and came all the way around on a long fly to right by Emma Rutan that dropped in for a base hit. Freshman Maddie Hedges added an RBI double with one out, and that was more than enough cushion for Harrison, who then tossed a 1-2-3 seventh.
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"I just knew I had to shut them down and not let them get on base or score," said Harrison, who struck out eight Warriors without a walk while scattering five hits.
Whiteland (13-16) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Macy Cornelius doubled, took third on an error and scored on a passed ball. The Grizzly Cubs responded with a three-run second, scoring on an error, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Harrison.
Harrison made it 4-1 with a solo homer in the fourth, but Whiteland battled back to even it up. Abby Nacio plated Haley Wilkerson with an RBI base hit and Jordan Smith added a run-scoring groundout to cut it to one in the fifth, and a sixth-inning Franklin error allowed Allie Watson, who had led off with an infield hit, to score the tying run.
The Grizzly Cubs, though, were able to shake it off and come through in the final frame.
"I thought tonight, our focus was awesome," Franklin coach Kilah Dickey said. "We had a lot of good leadership from Izzy on the mound. She had a really good mindset at work and she was really focused today … and anytime that she’s focused, our whole team’s going to be really focused. Even though they’re young, they can bounce back from mistakes."
In the opener, Osborn got the third-ranked Trojans (22-3) on the board first in the second inning. After a walk, fielder’s choice and error put two runners on, Martinsville hurler Kate Sisson intentionally walked Piper Belden to load the bases for Osborn, who poked a two-run single down the right-field line.
"I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie," Osborn said of the big hit, "but I got excited that I got the chance to do that."
Reliever Madison Lindsey opted to pitch to Belden with two on and two out in the fourth and paid dearly, as the senior dropped a triple into the deep left-field corner to stretch the Center Grove lead to 4-0. Osborn and Abby Herbst followed with RBI singles for a six-run lead.
Herbst, meanwhile, was in control in the pitching circle. She escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the first inning with two of her 11 strikeouts and wasn’t seriously threatened again until some late defensive lapses tripped the Trojans up.
Martinsville picked up one unearned run in the fifth off of back-to-back errors, then turned another miscue into three runs in the sixth to get back into the game.Â
Undeterred, Herbst retired the Artesians in order in the seventh to finish it off. But Trojans coach Alyssa Coleman was less than thrilled with her team’s effort in the field.
"We just didn’t respect the game," she said. "At the end of the day, we don’t have to do anything but respect the game. If we play that way, we’ll be fine, but we had moments where we just went through the motions. That’s not good enough. They know that. … We’re lucky we get another day."
Whiteland coach Katie Mitchell, though disappointed with the outcome, remains proud of her young squad, which won more games than it had in the previous two seasons combined.
"We had a great season," she said. "We really came together; they figured out how to play their game and do it together and play selflessly.
"We have a lot of returning players, so we’re looking forward to seeing what they can do."
