Franklin sophomore pitcher Izzy Harrison struck out 15 batters to lead the host Grizzly Cubs to a 5-1 win over conference and county rival Whiteland on Tuesday afternoon.
The win improved the Cubs’ record to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the Mid-State Conference.
It was a nice bounce-back win after getting trounced by Brownsburg on Saturday.
According to Franklin coach Kilah Dickey, communication was the key.
“We had a couple of issues with the team that we definitely got cleaned up,” said Dickey. I think having our pitcher and catcher on the same page makes all the difference in the world.”
That was not an issue for Harrison and catcher Emma Rutan.
Harrison started out fast, striking out four straight batters in the first two innings and striking out the side for each of the first three innings.
However, Whiteland’s hurler, freshman Debbie Hill, wasn’t doing all that badly either. Franklin was able to push runs across the plate in the second and third innings, but those was thanks to three Whiteland errors.
Harrison, meanwhile, kept on firing strikes, and only got into serious trouble once and that was in the fifth inning, when she issued two walks and gave up a single to load the bases with nobody out.
It didn’t turn out to be a problem, as Harrison then struck out the top three hitters in the Warriors’ lineup.
Franklin, probably realizing the game was still far from over, did its best to end it, getting three runs on four hits and sending a total of nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth.
The Warriors finally got to Harrison in the final frame, scoring their only run on two singles.
“I was proud of Izzy and Emma and the way they lead our team,” said Dickey. “It was really exciting to see.”
Leading the Grizzly Cubs offensively was Morgan Carter with two hits and an RBI. Payton Parker also had two hits, while Rutan singled in two runs.
Whiteland (5-6, 2-3) could only muster four hits, with two of those coming from sophomore Macy Cornelius, who also had the only RBI for the Warriors.
“They were doing a good job of moving the ball on us,” said Mitchell. “(Franklin) is a solid team and we’re going to have to come out strong (Wednesday), but I have confidence we can bounce back.”
