ELK GROVE, Calif. – Senior catcher Grace Jenkins slammed a solo home run to right center with two outs in the top of the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and lift St. Francis to a 2-1 victory over Elk Grove in the Delta League's regular-season varsity softball finale Thursday afternoon.

The Troubadours improve to 23-3 for the season and 10-2 in league play, finishing second in the standings. They will learn their seeding and draw in the Sac-Joaquin Section tournament over the coming weekend.

Jenkins finished 3-for-4 for the game, while senior third baseman Kayla Garber, sophomore second baseman Jazzy Basquez and sophomore shortstop Francesca Guerrera each had hits. Grace's twin sister, Hope Jenkins, went the distance in the pitching circle. She fanned 11 Herd batters with seven hits and two walks allowed.

With two down in the seventh, Grace Jenkins worked a 0-2 count to full, then slammed the next pitch toward the modular buildings beyond the right-center fence for the go-ahead run. Hope Jenkins then finished the game by striking out the side, with only right fielder Taylor Fitzgerald reaching on a walk in the finale.

Elk Grove actually drew first blood in the second inning, when sophomore Jenna Porto tripled to center to score Adriana Delaney, who led off the frame with a single. But St. Francis answered in its fourth. Hope Jenkins led off with a walk on an illegal pitch, advanced to second on a wild pitch, then third on a passed ball. Basquez followed in a single up the middle to bring in Jenkins.

The Troubies threatened in the fifth with back-to-back hits by Guerrera and G. Jenkins but EG's junior pitcher Aissa Silva escaped the jam. The Herd also put a runner in scoring position when Fitzgerald doubled in the fifth. Gabby Sotelo came in to run for Fitzgerald, and Silva helped out her cause with a single to left. However, Troubie senior Amy Abueg came up firing, gunning down Sotelo at the plate for an outfield kill.

Each team put runners on in the sixth but neither scored, setting the stage for G. Jenkins' heroics in the seventh. Her launch in the seventh represents her ninth homer of the year, and her fifth in the last seven games. H. Jenkins raised her season strikeout total to 259. Thursday's game was her 15th game with double-digit whiffs, including six in the last seven outings.

Meanwhile, the St. Francis junior varsity fell by an 8-3 final. Sophomore shortstop Sorina Pometta hit 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, but Elk Grove scored two in the first and third each, then posted another three tallies in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead.

Pometta doubled in the fifth and singled in the seventh, eventually scoring on each, but only two other Troubies – Taylor Trafican and Addison Hutchcraft – had hits after the first. Trafican also went 2-for-3 on the day, scoring Pometta on an RBI double in the first inning.

The SFHS jayvees finish their season with a 12-7-1 overall record, having enjoyed one of the best starts (9-1) in program history.

Pairings for the SJS tournament will be posted on MaxPreps and the section website (cifsjs.org), then later shared on GoTroubies.com and the St. Francis athletics' social media channels on Sunday. The tournament will begin with games on May 17 and 19. If St. Francis remains alive in the playoffs on Thursday the 19th, the game will be postponed to Friday to avoid a conflict with the school's graduation ceremony.