SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Center fielder Olivia McFarland, third baseman Alex Garcia and designated player Hailey Strange each knocked out two hits with a double, helping St. Francis hold off a late surge from Woodcreek in an 11-7 win during the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II softball championship tournament Friday.
The fourth-seeded Troubadours will head to top-seeded Vacaville for the section semifinal on Tuesday.
Strange also drove in a pair of runs, as did senior catcher Isabelle Vela, who finished 2-for-3 at the plate. Francesca Guerrera, Claire Krotine and Jazzy Basquez each added hits, with Basquez coming up with a double in the second inning. St. Francis scored two runs in each of the first and second, then piled up five runs in the third to pull ahead by a 9-2 margin. The Troubies then added two more in the fourth, threatening to invoke the run rule once the game reached the fifth.
However, Woodcreek held down the SF bats for the remainder while pushing across five runs in the seventh before reliever Reese Lewis settled down to back-to-back outs for the finish.
The Timberwolves drew first blood in the opening inning, getting some help from two Troubie errors in scoring an initial run. However, SF caught a break when Maryn MacNeil popped up to the right side of the offense. The Woodcreek baserunner took off on contact, meaning she was easily doubled up when Basquez flipped to first.
Garcia poked an RBI double in the bottom half when an short pop-up landed in no-man's land down the right field line. Deanna Richardson pinch-ran for Garcia, and scored from second on a hard McFarland grounder that got through the T-Wolves' infield. The Troubies extended their lead to 4-1 in the second, thanks to a double by Basquez followed by RBI singles from Vela and Guerrera.
Woodcreek cut into the lead in the top of the third thanks to a solo homer from center fielder Maliyah Lawson, but SF answered with its biggest offensive inning: five runs on four hits and a sacrifice fly in the third. Garcia, McFarland, Vela and Krotine had hits in the rally, Basquez ended a deep count with a hit by pitch, and Guerrera plated Basquez on the sac fly to give the Troubies their 9-2 edge.
Then in the fourth, McFarland and Strange came through with consecutive doubles to bump that margin to 11-2. Strange later had a chance to become the game-winning run in the sixth with her second hit of the game, but Woodcreek righty Sydney Wilkins escaped the inning with a strikeout, preventing the run rule.
The Timberwolves rallied in the seventh, gaining more help from a pair of SF errors. Freshman third baseman Chloe Preuss, who was 0-for-3 entering the finale, knocked a two-run blast to bring the tally to 11-7. With the bases empty, Lewis could focus on the batter, retiring MacNeil and Mary Zepeda in order to complete the win.
Junior Kiley Shea started in the circle for the Troubies, striking out four and allowing just one earned run in the three innings plus. Lewis took over after Zepeda led off the fourth with a walk, then went four complete to earn the win.
Vacaville entered the postseason ranked No. 2 in the Sac-Joaquin Section behind only Central Catholic. The Bulldogs ran the table on the Monticello Empire League, then shut out Atwater (8-0) and Cordova (2-0) to advance to Tuesday's semifinal.
Offensively, Vacaville was batting .389 with a .465 on-base and .554 slugging average heading into its second-round game. Junior righthander Xochitl Atayde boasts a 1.36 ERA with 193 strikeouts against just 17 walks and only six extra-base hits against her. Meanwhile, senior and San Jose State commit Makayla Freshour leads the Bulldog bats at .525/.556/.767 with six homers, 36 runs and 37 RBIs.
