SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Third baseman Alex Garcia and shortstop Francesca Guerrera each finished 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs as St. Francis held off a late charge to beat Davis, 12-9, in the varsity end of a Delta League softball doubleheader at Schuster Field Wednesday afternoon.
The Troubadours improve to 3-6 overall and 2-1 in league play. The varsity win accompanied an 8-6 victory for the SF junior varsity in the opposite diamond, where the two-hour time limit ended the proceedings in the bottom of the sixth.
The two junior infielders led a charge of 14 total hits for the Troubies. Center fielder Hailey Strange and second baseman Isabella Barge each went 2-for-4. The two SF pitchers – starter Kiley Shea and reliever Reese Lewis – also helped their cause with base hits, with Shea driving in two on her hit.
St. Francis piled up nine runs in the first inning before Davis turned the ball over to reliever Lea Lamoureaux with just one out in the opener. The Blue Devil freshman got her team out of the inning, then managed to hold the Troubies scoreless for the next five innings despite allowing runners in scoring position in the second and fourth.
Meanwhile, Davis gradually cut into the margin, scoring two in each of the fourth and fifth frames before putting up four in the sixth. Naomi Kalanetra and Sofia Lester each had RBI singles in the comeback to a 9-8 deficit, with bases-loaded walks by Ella Shorts and Maia Romero also bringing in Blue Devils.
With their lead diminished to a single tally, Strange ignited a three-run sixth with a leadoff double that burned senior Sydney Tuss in right. Strange later came around to score when Barge ripped a hard liner off the top of shortstop Cloe Lamoureux's glove. Guerrera later extended to lead with a two-run single, plating Barge and Taylor Richardson, who entered as a courtesy runner after Lewis' hit.
Now with some breathing room, Lewis worked her way through the seventh. With two outs, Kalanetra reached on a double down the third base line and Shorts made it two on with her single up the middle, but Lewis got Lamoureux to bounce out to Guerrera for the final out and the save.
Like their older sisters on the varsity diamond, the Troubie JV also exploded with a huge first inning, scoring six to craft a 6-2 lead. Seven players had one hit apiece, with Deanna Richardson's double leading the power game. Jaeya Leavitt, Layla Werner and Addison Hutchcraft each had RBI singles in the opening rally.
Davis got three back in the third thanks in part to back-to-back doubles from Sophie Webb and Sonia Clayton, but SF answered for two more runs in the bottom half of that frame, extending the lead to 8-5. Marissa Jensen pounded out an RBI single in the third.
Clayton earned a second double on a hard shot that barely eluded a diving Jensen in center, scoring Kimberly Castro for the sixth Davis run. However, credit goes to Troubie sophomore Rylee Coauette, who snared a drive in the fourth and came up with a shoestring catch on a sinking line drive in the fifth. Both catches prevented likely extra-base hits, with the grab in the fifth against Jordan Meade almost certainly preventing an additional DSHS run to score.
SF pitcher Layla Werner recorded her fifth and sixth strikeouts in the top of the sixth, and an Emma Fox walk in the bottom half give the Troubies another RISP before the junior varsity rule of a two-hour stoppage was invoked. Werner finished with the complete-game win.
Both St. Francis teams return to action in exactly one week, traveling to Cosumnes Oaks for a road Delta League doubleheader on April 12. First pitch is 4 p.m. on each field.
