With the new softball season well underway, Franklin High School’s (FHS) teams are focused on growth, teamwork, and building a strong foundation for the future. With young rosters at both the JV and Varsity levels, the focus is on supporting one another and improving together.
From a record standpoint, the Varsity squad stands at 12-3 overall and undefeated in the 3A Mountain Seven Conference (M7C) at 7-0. Halfway through their season, the JV Lady Panthers have not yet experienced similar success on the field, standing at 1-4 (0-1). The team also does not play as many games overall and have not had as many opportunities to stack up playing time. However, athletic coaches will often express that it is not winning that proves effort and talent.
Junior Varsity Softball Assistant Coach Cori Sellers Crawford grew up in Macon County and played softball from an early age through her senior year at Franklin High School. Now helping to lead the JV team, she recognizes that every player brings something valuable to the field. Rather than singling out standout athletes, she emphasizes the unique strengths each player contributes.
“We have players with various strengths and weaknesses,” said Crawford. “Each player brings something different to the table or to the ball field. Whether offensively, defensively, a positive attitude, or an encouraging word, each player provides a different value that makes this team strong and versatile.”
Her expectations for the season go be-yond wins and losses. She hopes to see the team stay positive and push one another to improve, both in skill and in mindset.
“My hope is that the team stays positive and encouraging to one another as we grow in all aspects of the game,” she explained. “We are a young team this year, and while there is much work to do and much progress to be made, the important goal is that we work to help one another on and off the field to better our game on the diamond.”
Coach pleased with direction
On the varsity side, Coach Bobby Bishop, after 32 years working for Macon County, most of which was leading the Planning, Permit, and Development department, retired last December.
However, his coaching career has intertwined with his full-time job, having now led the FHS softball program for the past six years. He and his assistants have the Lady Panthers in a familiar position – leading the M7C, with West Henderson and Pisgah on their heels, and within striking distance for a conference title. Having beat both schools at home already, Bishop acknowledges they are in strong position so far.
“We’re a young team, only starting one senior, and here we are with 10 games left in first place … our middle school program also provides really good players coming to the high school.”
This season, Bishop’s charges have been led by at least one familiar player who by now in her junior year is a household name in Franklin, Kendall Rumans. She now owns two career school softball records in runs batted in, (currently at 110) and is right now at 29 homeruns. Both records are likely to increase before the end of the season.
With a season and a half remaining, Kendall has many games to set and pad that record before the close of the 2026 softball season. Predictably, she again leads the team this year in nearly every statistical category. Be it batting average, hits, runs batted in (RBI), runs scored, on-base percentage, homeruns, or slugging percentage, Kendall is at the top of the list.
Bishop lauded Kendall, “She’s been playing centerfield for me and the other night against West Henderson, she made one of the best catches of the year, running back and catching one at the top of the fence, so she’s done very well.”
Of course, a team consists of numerous players and there are other standouts on the squad this season. Freshman Suzanna Cabe leads all players with 10 steals and is the top pitcher, with 11 wins and a 2.28 earned run average from the circle. Junior Ashlynn McConnell leads the team in doubles (11) and has the only triple safety of the year thus far. Defensively, freshman Julie Edelheit leads with a .974 fielding percentage.
Suzanna came on similar to Kendall, who took the team by storm back in 2023, both in batting and pitching. Suzanna has anchored the pitching staff in this, her first season, and according to Bishop, has profoundly impacted the team’s success.
“She really works hard at pitching, playing travel ball and pitches basically all summer. She also trains with a pitching coach she goes to over in Tennessee,” said Bishop.
Looking to the last game of the season against (currently) one-loss West Henderson, the coach was honest in his anticipation,
“I hope maybe they falter one more time before we play, but if it comes down to that last game, well that’s what it is all about anyway – that’s when you need to play your best.”
Bishop concluded by noting that despite all the new facilities associated with the new high school, the softball and baseball programs will continue to practice and play at Macon Middle School. While he completely understands the rationale, given space constraints and funding already allocated for a new Franklin High School, he also lobbied the school board and county commissioners about assistance going forward.
“I told them I felt like with all the new facilities at the high school, we needed some repairs. We need some new locker rooms; the fence and netting are getting really old. There needs to be a complete overhaul, because most of the facility is what was here when the field was first developed.”
Franklin High School student Molly Ramey contributed to this article.