TRACY, Calif. – Senior center fielder Alexis McFarland laced a solo home run in the sixth, junior shortstop Ariella Alcantar added an RBI triple in the seventh, while sophomore righty fanned five batters in a three-hit shutout, as 12th-seeded St. Francis blanked fifth-seeded Kimball in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II girls’ softball championship tournament Wednesday.

The Troubadours snap a three-game losing skid to improve to 12-15 for the year. The Jaguars finish their season at 19-8.

Wednesday’s playoff opener marked the second shutout of the year for both St. Francis and Heeb. Oddly, the previous one also took place in Tracy: a 10-0 victory against Pitman in the NFCA NorCal Leadoff Classic. Stranger still is that Kimball competed in the same bracket as the Troubies at that tourney, but never faced: that very win over the Pride advanced SF into the Platinum championship, while the Jags lost to Davis in the opposite semifinal.

McFarland and Alcantar had two of SF’s five total hits for the game. Jocelyn Villaflor dropped a blooper into center field for a leadoff hit in the fifth, Lillyana Perkins battled an 0-2 count to full before knocking a hard grounder through the right side of the infield immediately after the McFarland solo shot in the sixth, Heeb kept that rally going with her base knock with two down, while Barge’s comebacker off Briana Quintero set up the insurance run on the Alcantar triple.

Heeb and Quintero engaged in a classic pitcher’s duel for the first five frames, with both pitchers getting help from key defensive plays behind them while also combining for 14 strikeouts. Villaflor made a diving catch on a short pop-up to aid in Heeb’s 1-2-3 third. First baseman Reese Lewis ran down a foul pop-up despite the gusty winds forcing her and the ball against the right-field fence.

Even a defensive miscue inadvertently led to a key out: McFarland struggled to corral a fly ball in center, but when baserunner Iolana Faasisila attempted to advance an extra base on the error, McFarland, Alcantar and Villaflor combined for an 8-6-5 outfield kill at third. That play resulted in two outs with a runner on first rather than a runner in scoring position and one out with a dangerous hitter – freshman Viviana Aguilar and her .914 OPS – at the plate. McFarland also came through with the leather when she robbed Briez Dodds on a hit.

McFarland finally broke the scoreless tie in the sixth. Facing an 0-2 count against a crafty Quintero, the San Francisco State commit took two pitches to bring the count back to 2-2 before lacing a line drive down the right-field line. Kimball right fielder Emma Coronado gave chase but the hooking liner easily sailed well out of her reach and over the fence.

After Perkins followed the blast with her hit, Kimball’s Dodds – the victim of diving plays from Villaflor and McFarland – got some revenge when she snared Marissa Jensen’s deep fly ball at the fence. Heeb followed with her hit but St. Francis managed no more runs. The Jags then went down in order in their sixth to protect the 1-0 lead.

Barge led off the seventh with a single, albeit in frightening fashion. The ball caromed off the pitcher Quintero, who immediately dropped to both knees in the circle. The Jaguar players and coaches tended to her, and the sophomore righty took some warm-up pitches to remain in the game. Two batters later, after Barge had stolen second, Alcantar ripped a liner to left. Aguilar attempted to dive for the ball but to no avail, allowing Alcantar to come around for her first triple and ninth RBI of the year.

Quintero escaped the sixth with no further damage, but Heeb now had an additional run of support to finish. Two ground outs to Lewis at first and a fly out to Jensen in left resulted in another perfect inning, sealing the program’s first SJS postseason victory since beating Rodriguez at home on May 14, 2024.

St. Francis will now face a familiar foe, No. 4 seed and Delta League champion Elk Grove, which trounced St. Mary’s by an 11-0 final earlier on Wednesday. Oddly, the Thundering Herd piled up those runs on just six hits, getting help from six Ram errors. Still, freshman Tamiayh Ward hit 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs. She leads her team with a .440/.500/.702. Two other ninth graders, Kadence Pettis (.460./.505/.570 with 31 runs scored) and Madelyn Benzler (.355/.410/.656 with eight doubles and six homers) also post OPS totals above 1.000. Benzler is also the top performer in the circle, boasting an 0.84 ERA, 116 punchouts in just 91.1 innings, and holding opposing batters to just .148 in the circle. Junior righty Kaylee Buck joins Benzler on the pitching staff with a 1.91 ERA and only eight walks to 36 punchouts in 47.2 frames.

Friday’s second-round game takes place at 4 p.m. in Elk Grove. Tickets will be available starting on Thursday exclusively at GoFan: https://gofan.co/app/school/ CIFSJS