<p>The Franklin softball team has been on a roll lately, and at the perfect time.</p>
<p>Franklin opened up the annual Johnson County softball tournament in near perfect form, pounding out 18 hits and easily beating visiting Greenwood Christian 24-0 Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>The Grizzly Cubs (7-12) will take on Class 4A No. 1 Center Grove in a semifinal game at Center Grove this morning.</p>
<p>Pitchers Rilee King and Carleigh Wilmore combined for a one-hitter for Franklin.</p>
<p>It was the fourth straight win for the Cubs and their fifth in the past six games. Moreover, it was also the third straight shutout for Franklin, which blanked Mid-State Conference foe Plainfield earlier this week.</p>
<p>“We’ve been playing well lately, Franklin coach Lisa Whitlow-Hill said. “We’ve been hitting the ball and playing defense, something we hadn’t done earlier this season.”</p>
<p>Franklin jumped out early, taking advantage of some erratic pitching by the Cougars. The Cubs took first on five walks and a hit batter in the first, but also swung the bat, earning eight hits and scoring a dozen runs.</p>
<p>It was pretty much the same thing in the second inning, as the Cubs whacked six more hits while batting around the order again.</p>
<p>The Cubs eased off in the third inning, scoring “only” five runs.</p>
<p>Leading Franklin was freshman third baseman Izzy Harrison, who had a perfect day, going 4-for-4 with a single and three doubles. Harrison also drove in five runs, scored four times and added two stolen bases. King helped her own cause with two hits, including a two-run homer over the left-field fence in the second inning. King also scored four times and had four RBIs.</p>
<p>Sophomore Baylee Parker whacked consecutive triples and scored three times, while getting a pair of RBIs.</p>
<p>For Greenwood Christian, this has been a season in which they’ve either been the bug or the windshield, winning huge and losing big.</p>
<p>The Cougars have scored 184 runs this year and had just come off a 28-run performance against Providence Cristo Rey, but they couldn’t get anything going against King, who had six straight strikeouts.</p>
<p>Greenwood Christian averted being no-hit when sophomore Morgan Haynes singled up the middle in the fifth and final inning.</p>
