DAVIS, Calif. – Freshman catcher Chloe Hoertsch finished 3-for-4 with an RBI while senior Alexis McFarland added a 2-for-4 day at the plate with a ribbie of her own, but St. Francis surrendered a run on a deep fly ball to left in the bottom of the eighth, falling to Davis by a 3-2 final in the Sierra Foothill League girls' softball season finale Wednesday.

The Troubadours finish the regular season at 11-15 with a sixth-place 4-10 record in league. The Blue Devils improve to 14-11 overall and finish fourth in the SFL at 7-7. Whitney and Del Oro share the SFL title with matching 12-2 records, with Rocklin finishing two games back at 10-4.

Oddly, this marks the fourth time in three years that Davis has walked off a win in the eighth against St. Francis. The Blue Devils beat the Troubies, 7-6, in precisely that fashion in the NorCal Leadoff Classic Platinum championship game on April 11. Previously, they beat SF at home on April 3, 2024 and April 4, 2025, both times in the eighth.

St. Francis nearly took the lead in the top half of that extra frame, when Jocelyn Villaflor sent a towering shot to straightaway center. Senior Kylie Yao pulled in the fly against the fence, saving what would almost certainly been Villaflor's second extra-base hit. Instead, the score remained tied at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Junior Addie Sinclair, who had the game-winning hit one year prior, led off with a hard single, then eluded Hoertsch's throw on a wild pitch to put herself in scoring position.

Another Davis junior, pitcher Kaytlin LeBar-Triepke, then re-entered in place of reliever Layla Duarte to face SF righty Kaili Heeb. On a 2-2 pitch, LeBar-Triepke sliced a high fly to the opposite field. Troubie left fielder Elizabeth Bettar gave chase toward the left-center gap, but the amount of spin off the bat of LeBar-Triepke sent the ball toward the corner, eluding Bettar for a game-winning double.

The walk-off ended what had gone from early fireworks to a defensive showdown in the middle innings. McFarland and Marissa Jensen had base hits to start the game, with Hoertsch plating Bettar on a single to left with two outs. Blue Devil right fielder Lilah Shapiro ran down an Isabella Barge line drive to right to prevent any further damage in the first, but Ariella Alcantar rapped a two-out double in the second before scoring on McFarland's second hit of the day.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the second, Yao ripped a double to center, scoring two runs and equalizing the score at 2-2.

St. Francis managed a runner in scoring position in the third on back-to-back knocks from Heeb and Hoertsch, but Shapiro grabbed a hard Villaflor fly to end the frame. Reese Lewis opened the fourth when her flare dropped behind the infield, just inside the third-base line. Pinch runner Lillyanna Perkins reached third on an Alcantar sacrifice and a long McFarland fly out to Shapiro in right, but the Troubies could not take the lead, stranding Perkins at third.

Heeb escaped with a scoreless fourth, highlighted by an Alcantar-Barge-Jensen double play followed by Villaflor's cannon of an arm erasing a potential bobble at third. But Yao also saved Davis defensively, snaring a deep fly off Barge's bat to end the Troubie fifth. Then the defense came through for Heeb yet again in the bottom of that fifth. With the first of two intentional walks of Davis senior Sofia Lester loading the bases with only one down, Molly Roseen sent a bounding ball to Barge at second. The Yale commit went home to Hoertsch to ensure the force at the plate, then Hoertsch fired to Jensen at first to complete a 4-2-3 double play.

Heeb also served as her own defensive stopper, fanning back-to-back batters in the sixth as part of four total punchouts.

Davis had a chance to walk off the win in the seventh, with Yao leading off with a single to center, then Gracie Martinez beating out her own attempt to sacrifice for a bunt single. Lily Lingbloom successfully sacrificed the two preceding runners to second and third, respectively. St. Francis opted to pitch to Madison Hunter, despite the third baseman's .898 OPS, but got her to pop up for the second out. The Troubies issued Lester yet another intentional pass to put force outs at all bases, but it didn't matter: senior Molly Roseen lifted a routine fly to McFarland in center to force the extra innings.

St. Francis will await its pairing in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs, the brackets for which will be announced on Friday. The Troubies entered Wednesday's game with a No. 12 ranking by MaxPreps.