2006 Franklin Regional Softball. photo courtesy of Diane Cline and Franklin Regional Softball

THUDS! and POUNDS! echo in the background like an indoor construction site. It is, in fact, an indoor construction site. The Lady Panthers are working on the finishing touches on a solid 12-6-1 regular (9-3 section) season that landed them in the playoffs. It’s another rainy day, one of many that held off during the normal Pennsylvania Monsoon early spring baseball regular season, then swamped the WPIAL playoffs with a deluge that pushed many games back nearly a week. So, of course, Franklin Regional Softball Coach Jim Armstrong has his team working on batting…inside the gym. But he kindly takes the time to talk about his squad, in between coaching batters and maybe avoiding POUNDS! and THUDS!

The Lady Panthers made it to the WPIAL semifinals last year, but lost to Ambridge on errors, according to the coach. But he’s pleased with the season this year. “We’ve improved on our errors this year. We've had some kids do some good stuff this season. We’re pretty happy about that.”

The softball team hit some pretty heavy competition in March; they went to Florida. It’s a trip they make every other year so every student gets to go. Armstrong’s players were in the Wide World of Sports battling several other teams, including those from New Jersey and Minnesota. “We go down to escape the [normal Pennsylvania Monsoon Season spring] weather and play against some strong competition,” Armstrong says. “We did pretty well down there against them.” Seeing the different lineups paid dividends--in a section co-championship this season.

Senior Karen Nenno, Armstrong says, “sat back and waited her turn” after being on the team for four years. But when her turn came this year, she turned the heat on, with a .55 earned run average (ERA) and 118 strikeouts (yes, you read both those numbers correctly.) Sophomore catcher Erin Cline not only led the Lady Panthers in slugging, but also was among the WPIAL elite sluggers with a .628 batting average. The squad is young and three freshmen saw a lot of playing time: Courtney Manovich, Hannah White and Kate Doddsworth.

The team fell in the first round of playoffs after a mild slump at the end of season. But a section co-championship, in what some saw as a rebuilding season, with a young team, bodes well for next year. The THUDS!! and POUNDS!! you hear coming out of Murrysville are the sound of the Lady Panthers work crew working on constructing next year’s season.