SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis, the runner-up of the Sac-Joaquin Section, has drawn Saint Francis, champions of the Central Coast Section in the first round of the CIF NorCal Division I Regional, the CIF announced Sunday.

This is the first time in the MaxPreps era that the two similarly named schools have faced off in softball, although Saint Francis of Mountain View did take on St. Francis of Watsonville in 2019.

The Troubadours enter the regional with a 26-4 record and entered last week's section tourney with a No. 17 state-wide ranking by MaxPreps. The Lancers are ranked fourth in California and hold a 28-2 record. They also went undefeated in the West Catholic Athletic League.

St. Francis is led by UConn-bound twins Grace and Hope Jenkins. Hope is batting .513/.627/.883 while owning a 1.28 ERA in the pitching circle. Grace slashes .494/.567/1.000 with a team-leading 11 homers. Senior outfielder Amy Abueg is hitting .338 with a team-best nine stolen bases.

Saint Francis has five players batting higher than .500: Jessica Oakland (.590), Sydney Stewart (.569), Shannon Kreighan (.552), Chloe Cummings (.532) and Lexi O'Gorman (.510), while pitchers Kreighan, Cummings and Kate Munnerlyn – each of whom will return in 2023 – combine for a 1.09 ERA.

This is the inaugural NorCal softball regional, while Southern California held its first regional in 2021. There is no CIF state championship in softball. The tournament will continue on Thursday with a champion crowned on Saturday.