Another week, another patch of games, another national honor for a Franklin College softball player.
This time, Morgan Burch is in the spotlight.
A sophomore outfielder, Burch has been named the to the Louisville Slugger National Fastpitch Coaches Association Weekly Honor Roll.
One of a handful of Franklin players who have received the same recognition this spring, Burch was selected after an eight-game stretch in which she hit .538 with a 1.038 slugging percentage.
She also drove in 15 runs and had seven extra-base hits, including two home runs, and hit for the cycle during a March 28 win against Berea College.
Burch’s explosive week was a microcosm of Franklin’s season, at least at the plate.
As a team, the Grizzlies are hitting .348 with a .497 slugging percentage. They have 76 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs, and have scored 168 runs.
Franklin’s top sluggers, in addition to Burch, are senior Katie Streuwing and juniors Megan Lalioff and Savannah Blevens.
A former Greenwood high school standout, Struewing is hitting .360 in a team-high 89 at-bats. She also has team-high totals of 30 RBIs and 13 doubles and is second in home runs with four.
Lalioff is the top overall hitter with a .477 average. Blevins is hitting .333 with a team-high five homes.
Franklin is 16-10 heading into Saturday’s doubleheader at Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Manchester. The Grizzlies host Wilmington the following day for a nonconference doubleheader.
Baseball
Although the baseball team has struggled to find traction, freshman Jordan Clark has been a hit for the Grizzlies.A former standout at Connersville High School, the first-year outfielder is hitting a team-high .327 with team-leading totals of eight doubles, five home runs, 20 RBIs and seven stolen bases.
Clark is one of only three Franklin players hitting above .300. The others are sophomore Frank Podkul (.311) and freshman Mitchell Moore (.301).
Franklin takes a 9-15 record into tonight’s HCAC game at Rose-Hulman. The Grizzlies are looking to halt a three-game skid and, with 16 games remaining, turn their season around.
Lacrosse leaders
In only its second season as a varsity program, the Grizzlies’ women’s lacrosse team is 5-2 overall and leads the Ohio River Women’s Lacrosse Conference with a 3-0 league mark.Being in contention for the conference championships marks a dramatic turnaround from last season, when the Grizzlies finished sixth in the final ORWLC standings.
But even then, the Grizzlies showed potential of better things to come when seven players earned honorable mention All-Conference recognition.
Many of those same players are fueling the breakthrough season.
Franklin has won three of its past four matches heading into tonight’s showdown at Mount St. Joseph.
The Grizzlies’ to scorers on the season are junior Hannah Grow (29 points), senior Presleigh Hobbs (22), junior Lexi Ingram (21) and senior Paige Clark (21).
