Lady Bearcat pitcher Lexi Franklin has been invited to the 2021-2022 All Arkansas Preps banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
According to its website, the banquet celebrates high school athletes from across the state and their accomplishments in 12 sports.
For softball, there were nine invitations for each of the first and second team and another nine for underclassemen.
Franklin is the only invitee from the first team who is a sophomore. There are five seniors and three juniors on the fist team.
Franklin scored her second invitation to the banquet after a season in which she hit .472 with 14 doubles, eight triples, and three home runs, for a .910 slugging percentage. Franklin also drove in a team high 36 runs, scored 39 times, and stole 10 bases.
The primary pitcher for the 26-2 Lady Bearcats, Franklin threw 147 innings and was 23-2, allowing 76 hits and walking 56 but striking out 240 – 62 looking – with an ERA of 1.10.
Franklin, who was also named All State for the second time, surpassed the 400 career strikeout mark during the season and threw three no-hitters, one in the opening round of the Class 3A state tournament.
Former Major League Baseball player and Pine Bluff, Ark. native Torii Hunter will be the guest speaker at the banquet which is organized by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
During a career that spanned from 1997 to 2015, Hunter was a career .277 hitter, including two seasons in which hit topped .300, hitting .313 in 2012 and .304 in 2013.
A career American Leaguer, Hunter began and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins with stops in Anaheim and Detroit. He finished with 2, 452 hits, including 353 home runs.
FRANKLIN NAMED TO ALL ARKANSAS PREPS FIRST TEAM
