SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Alexis McFarland hit 4-for-4 while freshies Elizabeth Bettar and Chloe Hoertsch each collected two hits, but St. Francis failed to push across a run in a 3-0 shutout loss to Davis in its return to Sierra Foothill League fastpitch action at Schuster Field Monday.

The Troubadours even their season record to 9-9 while the Blue Devils improve to 10-8, with both teams now sporting 3-4 league marks.

St. Francis had eight of its nine hits in the 8-9-1 part of the order, with pitcher Kaili Heeb's two-out single in the fourth accounting for the remaining safety.

McFarland led off the first with a rip through the middle, and moved to third before DSHS sophomore Layla Duarte got out of the inning. Then in the third, Hoertsch and McFarland each beat out bunts, following a Hazel Pryor hit by pitch to load the bases. However, Blue Devil left fielder Addie Sinclair turned what could have been a sacrifice fly for Bettar into an outfield kill and a double play.

Hoertsch and McFarland again went back-to-back, with Bettar following with a single of her own to load the bases in the fifth. All three Troubies were stranded, as Duarte escaped the jam with a strikeout and a pop fly. Finally, the SF seventh provided another chance to get on the board, with McFarland and Bettar poking consecutive hits. This time, Davis reliever Kaytlin LeBar-Triepke coaxed an infield pop-up to end the threat and pick up the save.

Meanwhile, Davis drove in a run in each of the first, third and fourth frames to craft the early lead. Senior center fielder Kylie Yao had two of the six Blue Devil hits. Madison Hunter and Lily Lingbloom had RBI singles in the first and third, respectively, with Yao's double in the fourth bringing in the third Davis tally.

Heeb went the distance in the circle for St. Francis, allowing six hits and one walk across seven innings. Only one of the three runs were earned, with the Troubies committing four errors on defense.

Monday's contest was originally scheduled for March 27 but moved back due to a conflict with the DSHS spring break. As a result, this was the second meeting between the two teams in less than 72 hours: both SFL foes squared off in Saturday's NorCal Leadoff Classic Platinum championship.

St. Francis returns to action on Wednesday for a road game at Rocklin. This also begins the second half of the league slate, with all remaining SFL contests starting at 4:30 p.m.