SACRAMENTO, Calif. –  The trio of right fielder Claire Krotine, left fielder Marissa Jensen and shortstop Isabella Barge each collected two hits, but St. Francis failed to protect a 5-1 lead heading into the final inning, eventually falling to former Delta Leaguemate Franklin by a 6-5 final in a season-opening softball contest Tuesday afternoon.

Krotine and Jensen each finished 2-for-4 at the plate, with Jensen scoring a pair of runs. Barge went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, both on a two-run single in the fifth that extended the Troubadour lead to 5-1 in the fifth. Center fielder Alexis McFarland and pitcher Kinsley Imm also contributed extra-base hits as part of SF's nine-hit attack: McFarland drilled a triple on a deep fly to right in the first, whjile Imm doubled in the second.

McFarland's triple converted to the Troubies' first run, thanks to a wild pitch during Kylee Garrett's at-bat. St. Francis extended its lead to 3-0 after Jensen and Barger opened with first-pitch singles. A costly error allowed both to score before junior pitcher Sophie Valdez got her Wildcats out of the frame.

Imm only allowed one unearned run during the first six innings, although that frame served as a harbinger for the seventh: St. Francis committed two miscues in the fifth, the first of which resulted in the Franklin tally, but suffered three more in the seventh for a total of seven in the game.

Franklin had half of its 10 total hits in the final inning, although the Wildcats also had the rare instance of an inning-ending single: with two outs in the sixth, Ashley Fields doubled, only to have a hard Valdez ground ball clip her heel on her way to third base. Valdez gets credit for a hit, but Fields' unlikely out ended the threat and kept the Troubie lead at four runs.

Tuesday's opener began a three-game homestand, continuing on Monday against Ponderosa and concluding on March 19 against another Delta League member, Elk Grove.