ELK GROVE, Calif. – Freshman Lillyana Perkins, junior Jocelyn Villaflor and sophomore Olivia Meisner each finished with three hits while sophomore pitcher Kaili Heeb allowed just three hits in six innings of relief, but a sixth-inning rally came up a run short as St. Francis dropped a 4-3 contest to Elk Grove in a non-league girls' softball matchup Wednesday.

The Troubadours slip to 1-2 for the year. The Thundering Herd improves to 3-2.

St. Francis outhit its host by a 10-4 margin, with Heeb, Isabella Barge, Hazel Pryor and Marissa Jensen also finishing with one hit apiece. Heeb, who relieved starter Reese Lewis in the opening frame, also walked just three batters total with an earned run in the fourth innings.

Elk Grove opened the game with three runs in the first, loading the bases on the first three batters, with an error and a sacrifice fly moving the runners around. Villaflor's hits came in the second and fourth, respectively, but Herd righty Rachel Willams escaped each frame without a Troubie run coming across.

Jensen's first-pitch hit to lead off the sixth started a three-run inning that had St. Francis within striking range. Villaflor walked two batters later, then Pryor's pinch-hit single to center drove in Jensen. With two runners in scoring position, Barge laced a double to the left-field fence to score Villaflor, although Pryor was retired in a rundown on the play. Meisner followed with her own RBI single to score Barge, cutting the deficit to a single run.

The Troubadours also turned a key double play in the bottom half of the sixth, with Elizabeth Bettar, Ariella Alcantar and Barge combining on a 4-6-3 killing to go to the seventh. Perkins led off the final frame with a liner to center, but EG freshman Madelyn Benzler retired three straight to complete the win.

Wednesday's game was originally scheduled as a St. Francis home game, but field conditions relocated the contest. The Troubies return to action on Friday, this time at Franklin for a 3:30 p.m. start.