ELK GROVE, Calif. — Senior catcher Grace Jenkins launched a two-run home run immediately after Francesca Guerrera's RBI single broke the scoreless tie in the fifth inning, boosting St. Francis to a 3-0 shutout of Pleasant Grove in Delta League girls' softball action Friday afternoon.
The Troubadours improve to 12-2 for the season and 4-1 in conference play. Friday's game was a reschedule of a meeting originally slated for Thursday, but inclement weather in the area forced the one-day postponement. The SFHS junior varsity team did not play.
Outfielders Claire Krotine and Liv McFarland also had hits for the Troubies, as did pitcher Hope Jenkins, who fanned nine in her shutout victory in the circle. Jenkins allowed four hits and three walks but managed to lock down the Eagles. She surrendered a leadoff single to PG first baseman Lindsay Paredes in the second, but then retired 10 straight into the fifth.
St. Francis managed runners in scoring position in each of the second and fourth innings, but did not push across its runs until that fifth-inning rally. Krotine led off the frame with a line drive to right center, swiped second, then moved up 60 feet on Amy Abueg's sacrifice bunt to the left side. Guerrera slashed a 2-2 pitch to that same right-center gap to bring in Krotine, putting SF on the board with a 1-0 lead.
With Guerrera on first and facing a 1-2 count, Jenkins slammed a hard line drive well over the head of Eagle left fielder Riley Bigley for a two-run bomb, extending the lead to 3-0. That marked the future UConn Husky's third homer of the season and the first since a 10-0 win at Pioneer High back on March 25.
Pleasant Grove threatened to score down the stretch, with freshman Savanna Newman tripling past Krotine in left in the sixth, and Paredes and Kaylee Heath reaching in the seventh. All three Eagles were stranded in those spots, with Hope Jenkins recording a strikeout and a ground out to end each stanza.
The Troubies return home to host another Delta League power, Elk Grove, on Tuesday. The varsity squad will then travel south to Tracy for the NorCal Classic on Thursday and Friday, while the SF jayvees enjoy a rare contest on the Schuster Field varsity diamond against Rosemont on Thursday.
