TRACY, Calif. – Sophomore right fielder Claire Krotine and junior shortstop Francesca Guerrera each hit 3-for-4 and combined for three triples, leading St. Francis to a 14-4 win over Cordova to close out the first day of action at the NFCA Nor Cal Leadoff Classic tournament.
The Troubadours fell to Gregori, 3-0 in their tourney opener Thursday morning. They move to 5-7 for the season.
Meanwhile at Kimball High School, the Troubie junior varsity piled up 27 runs in just three innings in a shutout of Escalon, then held off Ceres in a four-inning, 9-7 win in the late-morning contest. The two games featured a total of seven innings due to time constraints. The SF jayvees have prevailed in five straight games, moving to 5-3 for the year.
St. Francis jumped out early on the Lancers, scoring five runs in each of the first and third innings en route to a 13-3 lead. Krotine's first triple scored Guerrera, who led off the game with a first-pitch single, then made her way to third on a steal and wild pitch. Kasey McAtee roped a two-run double then scored on a Taylor Trafican hit as part of the first-inning lead.
Krotine hit her second three-bagger to kickstart the three-run second, this time going to left. She later scored on Isabella Vela's single. Center fielder Hailey Strange smacked a triple of her own then scored on Kylee Garrett's drive to left to extend the St. Francis lead to 8-3.
Guerrera, Krotine, Garrett and Trafican each knocked out singles in the third, with Trafican's safety bringing around Vela and Garrett, raising the Troubie edge to 13-3. Then in the fourth, Guerrera led off with her team's fourth triple. She scored two batters later on a Jazzy Basquez ground out.
Freshman Reese Lewis went the short distance against Cordova, allowing four hits and just one earned run in four innings complete. She also struck out three against one walk.
The Troubadours' offensive outburst stood as a rebound from the morning opener against Gregori. Garrett and Basquez each went 2-for-3, with Garrett launching a double in the second, but SF could not get on the board. In the fifth, the Troubies managed to get pinch runner Taylor Richardson to third with just one out. But Jaguar third baseman Chloee Hoffman snared a line drive off the bat of Guerrera, then doubled up Richardson on the retouch at third to end the rally.
In jayvee action, freshman Marissa Jensen went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in each game, with another five runs scored. Jensen, Jaeya Leavitt and Rylee Coauette each had three hits in the win over Escalon. Jensen and Coauette also pitched one inning apiece, fanning the side in their respective frames.
Against Ceries, Emma Fox added a 3-for-3 performance with three RBIs while Layla Werner laced a triple in the fourth. St. Francis pushed across four runs in the first, surrendered a triple as part of a three-run Bulldog rally, then stormed ahead to an 8-3 lead with another four tallies in the third. Fox and Taylor Lewis had two-run singles in the opening stanza, while Jensen matched that in the fourth. Werner's triple ultimately resulted in the ninth SF run.
Ceres again rallied in the fourth, with Amaia Ferrel's double to right sparking a three-run inning. With runners at the corners, Leavitt pulled down the final out to preserve the win.
The Leadoff Classic consists of Platinum, Gold and Diamond brackets, plus a separate JV tournament. The four fields at the Tracy Sports Complex Ball Park serve as most of the venues, with Merrill West and Kimball high schools taking on the remainder.
St. Francis varsity will face the winner of Thursday's Los Banos-Ripon game at 11:30 on Friday at the Ball Park Field 4. The Troubies' JV schedule was preset, with SF facing Orestimba (12:30 p.m.) and Los Banos (3:30 p.m.), both on Kimball's JV diamond.
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