SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior shortstop Francesca Guerrera and senior first baseman each hit solo shots while junior right-hander Kiley Shea scattered seven hits en route to a shutout for her St. Francis debut, leading the Troubadours to a 3-0 road win at the Inderkum High Softball Complex Tuesday afternoon.
The St. Francis junior varsity picked up an even more decisive victory on the opposite field, beating the Tigers by a 25-3 final before the run rule was invoked in the fifth. The Troubie varsity improves to 2-6 for the year, with the jayvees picking up their first win to move to 1-3.
Guerrera led off the contest with her homer, driving a 2-1 pitch off Tiger starter Samantha Stoll to straightaway center. Vela's blast opened the fourth against Inderkum reliever Rylei Trujillo. She turned on an inside pitch, sending a high fly over the fence in left to extend the Troubies' lead to 3-0.
Previous to Vela's homer, St. Francis tallied a run in the third against Stoll. Isabella Barge led off with a walk, then Claire Krotine smacked a double down the left-field line. Barge came home on a fielder's choice, while Krotine easily moved up to third. However, Inderkum escaped any further damage when a would-be wild pitch sent Krotine toward home. Instead, the SF sophomore found herself caught in a rundown.
Meanwhile, Shea struck out five with just one walk in seven innings complete for first appearance as a Troubadour. The Folsom High transfer got into a jam in the Tiger third, with Mia Garcia and Isabella Jimenez hitting back-to-back singles. SF catcher Natalie Vigil snared a fouled bunt for the first out, and Krotine ran down a well-hit ball to left for the second. Trujillo walked on four straight pitches to load the bases, but Shea coaxed a pop-up from Mickey Garcia to strand three.
Guerrera also provided support for Shea in the fifth after Mia Garcia smacked her third hit of the game. She initiated a double play to erase Garcia from the basepaths, flipping to Barge for a 6-4-3 in the scorebook.
This is the first home run of the year for both Guerrera and Vela, and the second for their careers. Coincidentally, Vela's last home run came against Folsom on March 29, 2022 – against her future teammate Shea.
In contrast to the pitching performances by Shea and Trujillo on the varsity diamond, the Troubie JV pounded the ball on the adjacent field, scoring 16 runs in the third frame alone. The keystone combination of shortstop Deanna Richardson and second baseman Jaeya Leavitt provided a bulk of the offense: Richardson rapped out three doubles at the top of the order, while Leavitt finished 4-for-6 with two doubles.
Marissa Jensen (4-for-5), Emma Fox (2-for-5), Gianna Palermo (2-for-5) and Layla Werner (2-for-3) also enjoyed multi-hit performances at the plate. Werner also came in to pitch three scoreless innings of middle relief, the moved to left in the fifth, where she started a 7-4 outfield double play to help Rylee Coauette finish the game.
Both SF teams return home to resume Delta League play on Wednesday, hosting Davis for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader.
