SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore shortstop Francesca Guerrera finished 3-for-3 with a walk, senior catcher Grace Jenkins hit a triple and a home run, and senior first baseman Kayla Garber launched a two-run homer on her future collegiate field, but St. Francis' seventh-inning comeback ultimately fell just short in a 10-9 loss to Del Oro in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship game at Sacramento City College Saturday afternoon.
The Troubadours, seeded second in the tournament and ranked 17th in the state by MaxPreps, moves to 26-4 for the season. The Golden Eagles, who held the top seed in the D-II bracket, the top slot in MaxPreps' section rankings (for all divisions) and a No. 8 state rank, improve to 26-4 overall. Both teams also earned spots in the CIF NorCal Regional next week.
Jenkins and Garber each had three RBIs for the day, while Guerrera also had a double, a steal and two runs scored. Senior pitcher Hope Jenkins and junior second baseman Jazzy Basquez also had two hits apiece, as St. Francis tallied the most runs against a Del Oro team since Whitney bested the Eagles, 12-11, on May 12, 2021.
Both Troubie home runs came as part of a five-run seventh inning, which nearly erased a 10-4 deficit. G. Jenkins launched a solo shot over the Panthers' scoreboard. Guerrera followed with a double down the right-field line, then H. Jenkins drove in Guerrera on a line drive to left. With Natalie Vigil running for Hope, Garber lofted a high fly that cleared the left-field wall, cutting the deficit to 10-8.
Alex Garcia and Basquez both found holes in the infield for two more singles. Hailey Strange, brought in to run for Garcia, went first to third on the Basquez hit, with her hard slide jarring the ball loose. Strange then scored on an Amy Abueg sacrifice bunt.
With two outs and the tying run on second, senior Haley Kim drove a well-hit ball to the right-center gap. Unfortunately for the Troubies, DO sophomore Gabrielle Enyart ranged back and to her left to snare the ball for a game-ending catch.
The Troubies led twice early in the contest. Guerrera reached on a flare to right field for her first hit, swiped second, then scored on Garber's single to left to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Then after the Golden Eagles reclaimed a 2-1 lead on a two-run Haylee Engelbrecht homer in the bottom half, G. Jenkins put SFHS back on top with her two-run triple in the second. Abueg reached on an error, then Olivia McFarland yanked a single down the third-base line. The Troubie catcher and future UConn Husky then launched a ball to the stadium's "45 Years Of Excellence" sign in center, plating both McFarland and Abueg for a 3-2 lead.
Grace Jenkins then scored when a back-pick attempt glanced off her helmet and scooted into left field, extending the advantage to 4-2. But Del Oro countered with two unearned runs of its own in the bottom of the third, with the gusty wind creating issues for the Troubie outfielders.
The Golden Eagles then took a 7-4 lead on a two-out rally in the fourth. Olivia Robison and pitcher Caroline Grimes each doubled, while Kendal Manley launched a drive that one-hopped the left-center gap for a long RBI single. The bats of Manley and Grimes came up again in the DO sixth, with each hit first-pitch homers, stretching the lead to 10-4.
Hope Jenkins, who will join her twin sister at UConn next year, fanned Kayleigh Lugowski for her ninth strikeout to end the sixth and set the stage for St. Francis' comeback effort in the seventh.
Garber will play for Sacarmento City College, following what has become a family tradition: her uncle Geno Petralli starred for the Panthers in the late 1970s and later earned induction into the SCC Hall of Fame, while grandfather Gene Petralli played for Sac City in the 1940s and later for the Sacramento Solons (1949-50).
This is St. Francis' fourth trip to the section title game and the first since the program earned back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1995 and 1996. The Troubies' lone section title came in 1986, with a 3-2 win over Cordova. They will now await the pairings for the CIF Northern California Regional, an eight-team tournament that runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday next week. The brackets will be announced at the CIF website (cifstate.org) on Sunday.
