GRANITE BAY, Calif. – Senior center fielder Alexis McFarland hit 3-for-3 with a double, triple, two runs scored and an RBI, helping St. Francis hold off a late-inning comeback to snare a 6-5 win over Granite Bay in Sierra Foothill League girls' fastpitch action Friday.

The Troubadours win their third straight game, evening their overall record to 5-5 and improving to 2-1 in league play. The Grizzlies slip to 3-5 for the year with a 1-2 SFL mark.

McFarland had half of St. Francis' extra-base hits, with catcher Chloe Hoertsch and third baseman Jocelyn Villaflor also hitting for two bags. Villaflor reached three times: the RBI double that scored McFarland in the first, then two walks.

The Troubies took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, added a run to hold a 2-1 edge in the third, piled up four runs in the fourth to extend the margin to 6-1, but gave up a tally in the fifth and three in the seven before closing out the victory. McFarland led off the game with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, then easily scored on Villaflor's fly-ball double to center.

Granite Bay got the run back in its third thanks to Scarlett Crowder's RBI double to right, but SF regained the lead in the next half-inning. Hoertsch sent a 3-2 pitch to center for a lead-off double, McFarland bunted her to third, then Hoertsch came home when the Grizzlies conceded the run on a ground out to second.

The Troubies pushed across four more runs in the fourth, with pinch hitter Reese Lewis bringing in courtesy runner Gabriela Liasos and first baseman Hazel Pryor on a hard line drive that tailed out of reach of GB pitcher Eliana Snobar. Lillyana Perkins returned to the lineup to run for Lewis at first, then McFarland ripping a hard grounder that hugged the line to right. The San Francisco State commit easily made it to third for her second triple of the year and fourth for her career, then came home on shortstop Ariella Alcantar's roller through the middle. That brought SF's lead to 6-1.

Troubie starter Kaili Heeb retired eight of the next nine batters, fanning three in the process, but did surrender a solo homer off the bat of senior third baseman Leilani Terrazas. Terrazas hit a second bomb, this time for two runs, to spark a comeback in the seventh. Crowder later came up with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 6-5, but Heeb got out of the inning by retiring pinch hitter Reese Clark on a fly ball to right.

Heeb posted her fifth straight complete game. She was touched for 10 hits but offset that by walking no Grizzlies and striking out a season-best six.

St. Francis returns to action for SFL home games against Whitney (Wednesday) and Del Oro (Friday) next week. Both contests start at 4 p.m. at Schuster Field.