Box Score
Greencastle, Ind.: Securing its 18th win of the season, the #9 DePauw softball team beat Franklin College 11-3 in five innings due to the run rule.
The Grizzlies would get on the board first with one run after Franklin's Sydney Bostic singled directly between home plate and the pitching circle. Bostic would advance to third following a single down the right-field line and then score the first run of the game after a sacrifice fly out into center field.
Down by a run, the Tigers answered big with 10 of its 11 runs in the bottom of the third.
Grace Smith led off the third with a double to right field, then stole third with no outs. Paige Price's single slipped past the first baseman, driving Smith for the tying run. Goose Moore came in to pinch run for Price and worked her way to third thanks to a single by Drew Bratcher, followed by a bunt by Jade Mejia-Wick. The bases were loaded with no outs, with Riley Heim pinch-running on second for Bratcher. Caleigh Cramer stepped up to the plate and drove in Moore with a single to center field to advance all the runners. Up 2-1, and the bases still loaded, Alyssa Anderson pinch ran for Cramer and was quickly brought home after pinch hitter Emily Timberman drilled a home run over center field, giving the Tigers a 6-1 lead.
DePauw scored four more runs in the third as Smith drove in three runs after she homered down the right-field line, bringing in Abby Pyburn and Emily Minett. With two outs and an eight-run lead, Katie Mathies hit a solo homer off the Grizzlies' Sydney Pitts, putting the Tigers up 10-1.
Franklin drove in two more runs in the fourth and fifth inning, cutting DePauw's lead by seven, heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers ended the contest after Madi Lockridge found her way on base following a bunt single. Lockridge then advanced to second, following a sacrifice groundout by Ashtyn Barnett. Mathies stepped up again with two outs, and her single to the right-field drove in Lockridge to win the game in five.
DePauw tallied 14 hits across five innings, with Smith and Mathies recording two apiece, and they drove in five of the 11 runs for the evening. Bostic of the Grizzlies led her team with two hits.
Annika Garwood earned her first win of the season, improving to 1-0, allowing just three hits and two runs in three innings. Stephanie Kleber took the loss in the circle moving to 2-5 overall.
The Tigers hit the road and face Hiram in a doubleheader on Sunday, April 10, with game one set to start at 1 p.m. EDT.
