DAVIS, Calif. – Junior third baseman Alex Garcia hit 4-for-4 with three runs scored, left fielder Kylee Garrett chipped in another 3-for-4 with a double, and Isabella Barge drove in four more runs, helping St. Francis amass 17 total hits in a 13-7 win over Davis in the varsity half of a Delta League girls' softball doubleheader Thursday.
The Troubadours improve to 9-10 for the season and 5-4 in league play.
The trio of Garcia, Garrett and Barge were among five SF players with at least two hits. Right fielder Claire Krotine finished 2-for-5 while second baseman Jazzy Basquez went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. In fact, all nine Troubie batters had a hit in the win: Francesca Guerrera delivered a two-run triple in the sixth, immediately following Olivia McFarland's RBI double to right. Battery mates Isabella Vela and Reese Lewis also had one hit apiece.
Both teams traded leads multiple times in the contest, with St. Francis crafting an initial 2-0 edge in the third. Two errors on the same play allowed Krotine to score the first run, then Basquez smacked out a hard grounder down the left-field line. Basquez was thrown out attempting to stretch to a double, but Garcia had already come across as part of the timing play.
Still, Davis rallied back with five in the bottom half of that inning, highlighted by a grand slam by UC Davis-bound catcher Naomi Kalanetra.
The Troubies erased the Blue Devils lead in their fifth. Garcia, Vela, Basquez, Garrett, Lewis and Barge collectively knocked out six straight singles, with Barge plating two to put SF back up by a 6-5 margin. Davis responded in its bottom half, again by Kalanetra, who laced an RBI triple to the opposite field as the 6-6 equalizer.
St. Francis answered with another seven in the top of the sixth, getting immediate help from three straight walks and a boost from one of Davis' five errors. This set the table for the larger fireworks: Barge's two-run hit, Olivia McFarland's double and Guerrera's three-bagger sparking the first six runs. Krotine brought in Guerrera for the 13th and Garcia kept the rally going with her fourth hit before the Blue Devils finally ended the outburst.
The varsity win paired with a 9-8 victory for a depleted SF junior varsity on the opposite diamond, with Deanna Richardson, Jaeya Leavitt and Addison Hutchcraft each collecting two hits. However, the story of that game belonged to Leavitt and Marissa Jensen, who highlighted a sixth-inning rally despite having left the game due to injuries.
St. Francis held an early 5-3 lead, with doubles from Hutchcraft, Richardson and Jensen sparking a four-run second. But Davis pushed across two in the third and fourth frames to claim a 7-5 lead. In that Devil fourth, catcher Heidi Sindel rapped a line drive straight back to the pitcher Jensen, who took the seed of a line drive off her lower torso and collapsed to the ground in agony. Unfortunately, Deanna Richardson had previously left the game due to a school commitment, and Leavitt had already exited with an injured hand, meaning St. Francis was now short a player. The Davis coaches graciously offered to provide an outfielder for the Troubies but Leavitt came back to the outfield despite her ailment.
Still, Jensen's spot in the batting order remained unfilled. As luck would have it, she had been the last out in the previous inning, meaning her next turn at bat would not happen unless St. Francis batted through the order. But by rule, if Jensen's turn came up, the Troubies would take an automatic out.
Leavitt led off the sixth with a single, then worked her way around the bases on a Layla Werner line drive, a passed ball and a Taylor Richardson squeeze bunt – that final run closing the deficit to just 7-6. Davis smartly walked Sorina Pometta to get to Jensen's spot in the order with two outs. Rather than taking the out, Jensen came to bat, still visibly hampered from having absorbed the line drive earlier in the game.
Jensen hit a sharp ground ball that resulted in a two-base error, scoring Werner and Pometta for the go-ahead runs to 8-7. Jensen then came around from second on a Gianna Palermo hit, making it 9-7 for the Troubies. Davis responded with a triple by Kylie Yao to start the bottom of the sixth, then ultimately halved the SF lead to 9-8. But reliever Rylee Coauette held off any further Blue Devil scoring in preserving the victory.
The SF-Davis matchup was originally scheduled for Friday, but moved up 24 hours to Thursday to accommodate school function. This affords both JV and varsity an extra day of rest before hosting Del Oro for a rare 10 a.m. first pitch on Saturday.
