SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior third baseman Jocelyn Villaflor and senior left fielder Marissa Jensen each hit 2-for-3 while senior infielder Isabella Barge's two-run homer erased what was once a three-run deficit, but St. Francis surrendered late-inning runs to fall to Whitney, 7-4, in Sierra Foothill League softball action at Schuster Field Wednesday.

The loss snaps the Troubadours' winning streak at three games, moving them to 5-6 for the year and 2-2 in league. The Wildcats, ranked fourth in the Sac-Joaquin Section by MaxPreps, jump to 8-3 overall with a spotless 4-0 SFL record.

Villaflor also had St. Francis' other extra-base hit, thanks to her leadoff double in the fourth. Barge finished 1-for-2 with the two ribbies, a walk and two runs scored. Sophomore Kaili Heeb allowed 10 hits but only two earned runs, with four Troubadour errors adding outs to the Whitney halves of innings. She allowed just one walk and struck out one. Heeb also got robbed of not one, but two hits, with Wildcat senior Larissa Rogowski chasing down two hard-hit line drives to left.

Whitney got started with a run in the first, with senior shortstop Brooklyn Steele's double to the right-field warning track and a Kaitlyn Johnson sacrifice fly beginning the scoring. The Troubies got that run back in their first, with Barge battling to a nine-pitch walk, then coming around to score on back-to-back hits from Villaflor and Jensen. Then the Wildcats stormed right back in their second, with Lulu Im's two-run double aiding in a three-run overall frame.

St. Francis got a run back in the fourth, with Villaflor opening with a liner to left. Two batters later, catcher Chloe Hoertsch ripped a 1-0 offering to the right-center gap. Whitney senior Rebecca Rau, who robbed Jensen of a hit on the previous at-bat, fired home to get Villaflor to retreat to third. Meanwhile, Hoertsch rounded first and got caught in the rundown in the wake of Rau's throw. This allowed Villaflor to score after all, reducing the deficit to 4-2, with Hoertsch ended up on second in the process. Whitney sophomore Taylor Cordell escaped with one of her six punchouts of the contest.

The Troubies finally filled the hole in the fifth. Barge launched Cordell's 1-2 pitch well past the short Schuster Field porch in left, scoring Alexis McFarland and evening the game at 4-4.

Catcher Jayla Bradford doubled home fellow senior Paige Tamblyn in the sixth to regain the lead, resulting in two runners in scoring position and no outs. Heeb got the next two Wildcats to pop up harmlessly in the field, with a soft grounder to Ariella Alcantar ended the frame and stranded the two runners. Sophomore Bri Seffens added a two-run double in the seventh for some Whitney insurance runs, then Cordell retired the Troubies in order to finish.

The homer marks Barge's second of the year and second of her varsity career. The future Yale Bulldog raises her OPS to .960 for the year, behind only McFarland (.385/.467/.615) and Villaflor (.393/.471/.536) among team leaders.

St. Francis remains at home to host Del Oro on Friday. First pitch is 4 p.m. at Schuster Field.