SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior right fielder Claire Krotine finished 3-for-4 while junior outfielder Marissa Jensen hit 2-for-3 with a double, but St. Francis surrendered 12 runs in the late innings to see a 4-2 lead diminish into a 15-4 loss to Ponderosa in non-league girls' prep softball action at Schuster Field Monday.

The Troubadours move to 0-2 as part of their three-game homestand to start the year.

Krotine's first hit kicked off a one-out, four-run St. Francis rally in the third that more than offset an early 2-0 Bruin lead. She ended up scoring on the next at-bat: Alexis McFarland launched a deep fly to right that junior Bailey Borges could not quite glove. With Krotine stuck halfway between bases waiting for a possible catch, McFarland had no choice but to settle for a long single. However, a throw to get the retreating McFarland trickled loose, allowing Krotine to put the Troubies on the board.

Jensen followed with a double to center, with Kylee Garrett walking to load the bases. Kinsley Imm bounced to the Pondo shortstop Kate McCartney, whose force throw home short-hopped her catcher. Isabella Barge plated Jensen on a sacrifice fly to left and Reese Lewis worked the count full before reaching on an infield hit to plate Garrett. Pondo finally closed out the frame when reliever Haley Warner coaxed a final ground out.

The Bruins got an unearned run back in the fourth thanks to an error and passed ball allowing Haley Arroyo to turn a leadoff hit into the run batted in on a Bella Adams sacrifice fly to right.

Pondo eventually took the lead for good in the fifth, with Molly McFarland igniting a three-run rally with her double to left. Barge and Garrett made key plays at short and third, respectively, to prevent any more damage. Both infielders also came up defensively in the sixth: Garrett with a lunging stop on a ground ball toward the hole, and Barge snaring a line drive on a hit-and-run that became an easy double play.

Unfortunately, SF did not bring in any more runs, with Warney firing 4.1 scoreless after relieving Marissa Granade in the third. The Troubies had their best chance in the sixth, when Jaeya Leavitt reached on a dropped pop-up and Krotine legged out a bunt. But Leavitt was tagged out at home when Gianna Marietti prevented a would-be wild pitch, and Krotine ended up stranded on third.

Furthermore, the dam burst in Pondo's favor in the seventh, with six hits and two errors leading to nine Bruin innings. Sadie Ward and McCartney each pounded out double – Ward against reliever Kaili Heeb, McCartney against re-entered starter Imm – to lead the onslaught in the final frame.

St. Francis wraps its season-opening homestand with a 3:30 p.m. game against former Delta Leaguemate Elk Grove on Wednesday.