FRANKLIN, Ind. - The Franklin College Grizzlies were primed and ready as they swept the visiting Bluffton University softball team, capping off 10 games over the past seven days for the Beavers. Bluffton won six in a row and seven of those 10 en route to a season mark of 15-11 and 3-5 in the Heartland Conference.
Bluffton went up 2-0 in the top of the second thanks to a pair of no-out hits and a Franklin miscue. Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) laced a leadoff double and moved to third thanks to a Grace Gronberg (Danville) base knock to center. A Leah Ramirez (Elida) groundout to second put the visitors up 1-0. Gronberg crossed the dish when Franklin was unable to pick up Halee McDade's (Oxford/Talawanda) shot to shortstop.
Franklin bounced back with three in the third and six in the fourth, taking a commanding 9-2 lead heading to the fifth. McDade opened the inning with a single to left center and her pinch runner, Hailey Lennard (North Baltimore), made it 9-3 following a Grizzly passed ball, but the home team scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, capping off the 11-3 mercy-rule victory.
Grant went 2-of-3 and scored a run in the lidlifter. Gronberg dropped her first decision of the week after four straight victories in the past six days. She allowed eight runs on nine hits in three innings with one strikeout and four walks.
The Grizzlies bolted out to a 10-0 lead in game two before Bluffton got on the board with a run in the top of the fourth. Sophomore Leah Ramirez (Elida) drove in junior Ella McCombs (Springfield/Southeastern) who led off the frame with a double to right center.
Bluffton refused to give in, scoring three more an inning later, making it 10-4 midway through the fifth. Singles by Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden), Hailey Mowell (Cincinnati/Reading) and Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) added up to a Hampton run. McCombs drove in Mowell with her base hit to center and Grant's RBI single sent Brentlinger across the dish.
Franklin called game with three hits and a sacrifice bunt in the home fifth as the Grizzles capped off their sweep with a 12-4 victory.
Junior Colleen Meese (Rocky River) fell to 1-3 after surrendering eight runs on five hits in two innings of work. She struck out one and walked seven Grizzlies. Freshman Jillian Meyer (Mason/William Mason) tossed the final 2.1 frames, allowing four runs on six hits with two strikeouts and two free passes.
McCombs went 2-of-3 with an RBI and run scored.
Bluffton will be back on the road to Cincinnati for a Heartland Conference doubleheader at Mount St. Joseph on Thursday, April 16. Game one is slated for 4 p.m.
-BEAVERS-