ELK GROVE, Calif. – Sophomore Reese Lewis and senior Kiley Shea allowed four hits in a combined shutout while junior Claire Krotine hit 2-for-4, leading St. Francis to a 1-0 victory over Laguna Creek in the varsity half of a prep softball doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
The Troubadours extend their winning streak to seven games, improving to 7-1 overall. The St. Francis junior varsity squad also returned to action on Thursday, rolling to a four-inning, 19-4 victory to move to 4-1 for the season.
Lewis started in the pitching circle, tossing four complete innings with three hits and three walks surrendered. Impressively, she took part in six of the first seven outs of the contest. In the first inning, Lewis snared a line drive then spun and fired to first baseman Taylor Trafican to double up Mia Gonzalez, who led off with a walk. Then in the second, LC put the first two runners on before Sarah Hanf smashed a ball straight back to the Troubie pitcher. Lewis doubled up Jazmine Johnson at second, again erasing the inning's leadoff hitter. Lewis later fielded a groundout to close the second inning, then began the third with a pop-up in the infield. In all, she totaled three assists and three putouts.
Krotine, coming off her inside-the-park homer on Wednesday, had exactly half of her team's hits. She beat out a bunt in the top of the third, then led off the sixth with a bloop single to the left side.
St. Francis nearly added a second run to the third inning when Sorina Pometta struck out. The third strike eluded Isabel Castro, but the senior catcher feinted a throw to first and instead chased down Leavitt in a rundown between third and home.
Lewis was perfect in the fourth, then Shea took over in the fifth. Laguna Creek managed to rally in its first look against the future Pacific Tiger, getting a leadoff double from Crable and eventually loading the bases with just one out. But Shea recovered to coax consecutive pop-ups to the left side, keeping the three Cardinals stranded on base.
Shea then dominated her way through the final two innings, fanning two LC batters in each of those stanzas en route to a three-inning save. She now has 49 strikeouts against seven walks in 34.0 innings for the year, lowering her ERA to just 1.03 in the process.
Meanwhile, Hanf was equally stellar for Laguna Creek, allowing the four hits and four walks plus Garcia's unearned run. She also struck out 13 Troubies, the most by any SF opposing pitcher since Vintage's Raimy Gamsby punched out 15 – also in a 1-0 Troubadour win – on May 7, 2022.
In contrast to the pitchers' duel on the varsity diamond, the St. Francis jayvees returned from a two-week hiatus to pile up 19 hits and 19 runs in a four-inning drubbing on the adjacent field. Freshman Haydyn Haecker hit 4-for-4 with a double, four runs and two RBIs, while also going the distance at pitcher.
Junior Emma Fox matched Haecker with four hits (4-for-5) with four RBIs, and freshman Ariella Alcantar went 3-for-3 with two walks and five runs. First baseman Jocelyn Villaflor and Lillian Desmond each hit 2 of 3 for the day, with Villaflor adding a double and four RBIs. Credit also goes to sophomore Alexis McFarland, normally the varsity team's starting center fielder, who joined the jayvees for the day to ensure they would not suffer a second straight forfeit.
Both SF teams host Elk Grove on Monday, marking the first home action since the March 7 doubleheader. That will begin a busy week for the program in the back half of the school's spring break: a league doubleheader at Davis on April 3, plus the NorCal Leadoff Classic in Tracy at the end of the week.
