SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior shortstop Ariella Alcantar's home run in a six-run sixth followed by senior infielder Isabella Barge's walk-off double in the seventh hoisted St. Francis from an 11-4 deficit to a 12-11 win over Vista Del Lago in non-league prep fastpitch action at Schuster Field Wednesday.

The Troubadours improve to 2-3 in their belated home opener. The Eagles slip to 2-5 overall.

Alcantar's homer, which scored Kaili Heeb, is both the first of her career plus the first by any SF player in 2026. She was one of four Troubies with two hits in Wednesday's win: Alexis McFarland went 2-for-3 with a double, triple and four runs scored; Marissa Jensen went 2-for-5 with four RBIs; with Barge finishing 2-for-4 with the pair of RBIs to end the game.

St. Francis took an early lead in the game, when Jensen's RBI single followed by Alcantar's two-run hit overcame the two-run shot by Tayler Dray in the first. McFarland's triple down the right field line to lead off the second positioned her first a fourth Troubie run.  

However, Vista scored one in the third, five in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth to pull to an 11-4 lead. Two SF errors aided in that overall run, but the Eagle bats also pounded out 12 of their 14 overall hits across those four frames.  

McFarland and catcher Olivia Meisner led off the sixth with back-to-back walks, with Chloe Hoertsch replacing Meisner as the courtesy runner. Both Troubies moved up 60 feet on a wild pitch before Jensen poked a hard tracer to center for two runs. Vista first baseman Harper Nikol made a spectacular diving stop to rob Barge of a hit, but that moved Jensen to third. Two pitches later, Reese Lewis plated Jensen for a grounder up the middle, cutting the Eagle lead to 11-7.

Heeb re-entered for reliever Gabriela Liasos and drew another walk, then she and pinch runner Lillyana Perkins advanced twice on two more wild pitches, with Perkins' run reducing the deficit to 11-8. Now facing a full count, Alcantar took Vista pitcher Emily Farias deep to center for the two-run homer, further closing the gap to a single run with only one out. Farias escaped the jam with a grounder to third and a strikeout, and her team clinging to the 11-10 edge.

Vista catcher Stacey Kraushar opened the seventh with a barrel to right field, but Heeb retired the next three batters in order on some strong infield play: Jensen to Julia Nielsen on a sacrifice bunt, Barge going across the diamond to throw out Ailis Harman, then Alcantar ending the inning with a stop and off-balance throw from the 6-5 hole.

McFarland led off the seventh with a double to center, with Jocelyn Villaflor returning to the game to get hit by a 1-0 pitch. Eagle junior Alayna Piexoto managed to retire Jensen, and get to an 0-2 count on Barge. Yet another wild pitch–Vista's fourth on the day–brought McFarland and Villaflor one base closer as the tying and go-ahead runs, respectively. That's when Barge delivered on a hard bounding ball to left, easily scoring her two teammates for the walk-off hit.

The victory snaps a frustrating three-game stretch for St. Francis, which lost to Sheldon and Elk Grove in one-run thrillers before seeing its 3-0 start slip away to a 5-3 loss at Franklin on Friday. The Troubadours return to action at home against Rocklin for their Sierra Foothill League season opener. First pitch is 4:30 p.m. at Schuster Field.