Carpenter Cup Softball: Busy week no problem for Chichester’s Franz

PHILADELPHIA — Ava Franz had a crazy week.

A few days ago she was on the other side of the country participating in one of the nation’s top softball showcases, the So. Cal Athletics Invitational. Franz and the Chaos 18U Gold club won seven games over the three-day tournament to capture the championship.

“That was three straight days of softball, against the top teams and the top players (in the nation), which was cool,” said Franz, a rising junior at Chichester High School. She was the only freshman in the county to earn All-Delco honors last spring. “There were so many great players.”

Franz was anxious to get back home in time for the start of the Carpenter Cup tournament Monday.

On Sunday night, Franz packed her bags and headed to the airport where she boarded a red-eye flight around 10 p.m. PST. She touched ground at Philadelphia International Airport around 7 a.m. EST. Franz met her mom at baggage claim, hopped in the car and drove straight to FDR Park to be with her Delco teammates. Brooke McKeown (Haverford High), another Chaos 18U Gold player, also returned from California to join the team.

“By the time I got my bags it was about 7:30,” she said. “I got here from Philadelphia International Airport as fast as I could.”

The life of an elite softball talent can be pretty hectic during the summer months. Franz has other big tournament showcases in Georgia and Colorado, among other states, in the coming weeks. In August she’ll finally be able to rest and take a break and get ready for her junior year of high school.

“It’s so tiring,” she said, “but I love it.”

All Franz did in her first Carpenter Cup game, which started at 9 a.m., was go 5-for-5 with a triple, three runs scored and three RBIs in Delco’s shellacking of Olympic Colonial. It was an impressive display when you consider that 90 minutes earlier Franz was somewhere high in the sky.

There was no jet lag to Franz’s game.

“I just wanted to get here and play,” she said. “There’s always a softball game to play.”

Team Delco saw its run in the Carpenter Cup tournament end following a 12-4 loss to Tri-Cape Wednesday morning. Delco’s 1-1-1 record in pool play was not good enough to advance to the single-elimination round.

“I thought we’d play at least one more, but it was fun,” said Franz, who started at shortstop for Delco, as was the case during the high school season for Chichester. “It’s nice to play with all different girls from in the county. At Chi, we only played 15 games this season, which wasn’t as many as everyone else. We didn’t get to play a lot of the teams in the county, but now when I play them next year I’ll know some people, like, ‘Hey, how are you?’ which is nice.”

Unfortunately Delco didn’t have many nice moments in Wednesday’s defeat. One player that stood out was Ridley’s Sammy Williams, who made hard contact all three at-bats. Williams was a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a two-run homer over the fence in right-center field.

“I make sure I prepare the night before, that I’m hydrated and go to bed early. It’s not really hard to get up in the morning and play,” said Williams, who is a third baseman for Ridley but played catcher for Delco. “It doesn’t matter where I play, really. I just want to do whatever I can to help my team.”

Wednesday’s suspended game resumed in the top of the second inning as Tri-Cape had runners on second and third base. Tri-Cape grabbed a 1-0 lead, but Delco responded. In the bottom of the second, Franz worked a leadoff walk and Williams followed with her two-run bomb to make it 2-1.

A pair of costly errors in the third enabled Tri-Cape to score five runs (four unearned) off Garnet Valley ace Becca Halford. Penn Wood’s Ameenah Ballenger and Springfield’s Sam Ciasullo threw the ball well in relief.

Ballenger added an RBI single in the fifth inning for Delco, but Tri-Cape kept on hitting. Audrey Kochanowicz of Strath Haven also singled in the loss.

“Not only do you get to meet new people, you are teammates with some of your biggest rivals in high school,” Haverford’s Tess Smiley said. “And the cool part is you get to come out here and show off your talent.”

Delco’s ride in the Carpenter Cup ended prematurely, but softball will go on for these players, most of whom are involved in club/travel ball this summer. And it’s only going to get busier from here.

Just ask Franz.

“We have a few games this weekend, then a few in New Jersey coming up, then we will fly out to Colorado for the (Boulder) IDT (Independence Day Tournament). That’s the big one,” she said.

And from there?

“Then we’re off …”

Wait … really?

“No, we’re not off, actually,” said Franz, remembering that softball never really ends. “We have some games in Pennsylvania, then we’ll fly to Georgia, and from Georgia we’ll fly to California again. No breaks. I wouldn’t change it, though.”

Franz is starting to think about where she might want to play in college. She had many eyes watching her and the Chaos last weekend.

“I think Auburn was at every game. You had Minnesota, Arizona State, Stanford, Washington, Texas A&M. There were so many top colleges,” Franz said. “I would love to play against big competition, maybe in the south. I love the country and I love traveling. …”

She has some time to figure it out. In the meantime, Franz has another game to play.