Speedy table setter turned power hitter Alexia Franco hits first two home runs of her four-year varsity career for streaking Chesterton in 17-5 win over visiting Hebron

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Fleet center fielder Alexia Franco took a .400 batting average going into Thursday’s softball game vs. visiting Hebron and had done it all in her four years as a varsity outfielder for the Chesterton program. Everything, that is, except hit a home run.
Now it can be said she has done it all. Franco enjoyed the feeling of hitting the first home run of her Chesterton career so much that she did it again later in the game, driving the hot-hitting Trojans to a 17-5 win over the Hawks.
Franco went 4 for 4 with five runs, five RBI, two doubles, two home runs and a walk. It doesn’t show in the box score, but she also went horizontal to make a highlight catch during pregame warmups.
“They always say your’e supposed to practice how you play,” she said of the catch.
She has made plenty of those. It’s the power surge that’s new.
“Those were her first home runs? That’s crazy,” said winning pitcher, freshman Payton Cherep, who has homered in back-to-back games.. “She has really good power. That surprises me.”
First-year head coach Erin Cochran said Franco “was due. She’s been killing it this year, whether it’s fast pitching, slow pitching, she has been doing a phenomenal job.”
The numbers back up the coach’s words.
Franco leads the team with a .449 batting average and 21 runs, and has struck out just twice all season.
“It’s exciting,” Franco said of homering. “I’ve been super close a lot lately. I can’t believe I finally got to hit one out and then got to do it again.”
Franco doubled and scored in the first inning and again in the second, hit a three-run home over the fence in left in the third, and a two-run home to left-center in the fourth. Her first home run was the first of five for the team. Junior Hannah Florian made it back-to-back homers in the third. In the five-run fifth and final inning, sophomore catcher Olivia Milton hit her team-leading fourth home run, with two runners on. Two spots later in the lineup, Cherep hit her third with one runner on base.
“Everyone’s been on fire lately,” Franco said.
Not all the hot hitting from a team that started the year 1-5 and has won 8 of 9 since has come against overmatched pitching.
The Trojans traveled to LaPorte on Tuesday night to face a Slicers team that had defeated them 10-0 in five innings on a no-hitter by Mia Maxel, who walked two and struck out nine in the April 9 game.
Maxel was in the circle again for the Slicers in the rematch.
The Trojans were a different team then and were eager to prove it.
“I think we were ready to beat them and get some revenge,” Franco said.
That’s exactly what happened.
Maxel was pulled from the game before she was able to get a fourth out, already having given up six earned runs on three hits, two walks and a three-run home run from Cherep. Senior Claire Demeter also had a big day at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Florian picked up the win by pitching six innings, allowing four hits and a walk and striking out seven. Both runs she allowed were unearned.
“We didn’t let the fact that she’s a good pitcher get to our head, and we took advantage when we saw the ball and didn’t look back,” Cherep said of Maxel. “That first game was in the past and we just looked forward to playing better as a team.”
The 9-2 win gave Chesterton sole ownership of third place in the DAC standings with a 6-3 record, behind Lake Central (9-0) and Crown Point (8-1) and ahead of LaPorte and Portage, which are tied for fourth at 5-4.
The Trojans are showing how contagious hitting can be.
“We started the season off rough obviously and then we started to work better together and put forth our best effort and I think we started working better as a team and supporting each other and hitting bombs and playing well and pitching well and everything,” Cherep said. “Once a rally starts going and you get the energy up, everyone’s going to start hitting.”
Cochran, whose team has slammed 15 home runs in the past eight games, agreed that hitting is contagious.
“If they get down and don’t cheer, then everyone else kind of gets down, whether it’s in the field or when they’re batting,” Cochran said. “So, if everyone is up in the game, it tends to be contagious, for sure.”
Franco gave her thoughts on why the team has improved so much and explained why she believes hitting is contagious.
“We’ve been working together and communicating really well and when one of us does well, we all do well,” she said. “I think it gets your spirits lifted when somebody gets a hit, and then you’re excited to go up and do something good for the team as well. I think it builds on top of each other, and when we build on top of each other, we can’t stop hitting.”
More than individual improvement seems to be at play for the Trojans.
“I think we have a great group of girls,” Franco said. “We do a lot of bonding activities. We have pasta parties every Monday night before our Tuesday game. Different parents host it, and we do it in the school. We really enjoy it, and we hang out outside of school too. We go to dinner and breakfast together and stuff like that.”
The schedule grows tougher next week. Lake Central visits Chesterton on Tuesday and the next day the Trojans travel to Crown Point. Chances are good that whether the Trojans win or lose those games, they’ll do it together.