SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis softball earned the No. 12 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II girls' softball championship tournament, and will travel to fifth-seeded Kimball for its first-round game on Wednesday, May 13, the section office announced Friday.

The Troubadours earned their playoff berth by virtue of their No. 12 position in MaxPreps' May 7 power rankings. St. Francis finished the regular season with an 11-15 overall record and a sixth-place 4-10 mark in the Sierra Foothill League. The Jaguars enter the postseason with a 19-7 season ledger, and qualified for the playoffs due to their second-place (11-4) finish in the Tri-City Athletic League.

The Troubie offense has a nucleus of three senior players, each of whom has committed to play college ball. Center fielder and San Francisco State commit Alexis McFarland has hit .383/.485/.494 for a .979 OPS in 101 plate appearances this season, with 23 runs scored as the team's leadoff batter. She also has seven extra-base hits (five doubles, two triples) and 15 RBIs. Cal State San Marcos-bound Marissa Jensen ranks third on the team with an .877 OPS, thanks in part to a team-best .529 slugging and 11 XBHs (seven doubles, two triples, two homers). Future Yale Bulldog Isabella Barge matches Jensen with 11 XBHs (6 2Bs, 3 3Bs, 2 HRs) to support her team-leading 21 RBIs and a .284/.341/.506 slash line.

Adding to this output is junior third baseman Jocelyn Villaflor, with her robust .356/.402/.521 adding up to a .923 OPS, second on the team. The rocket-armed Villaflor matches Jensen and Barge with a pair of homers for the year.  
However, the workhorse of the Troubadour squad is sophomore pitcher Kaili Heeb, who has spent 139.2 of the team's 167.1 total innings in the circle. Her 3.46 rides alongside her .274/.395/.306 at the plate.

Kimball's offense boasts four players with batting averages above .400: sophomore Briana Quintero (.459), senior Giselle Mallamo (.435), freshman Gisele Garza (.433) and junior Saige Dodds (.412). Quintero has 14 of her 39 hits going for extra bases to the tune of a .659 slugging average and 1.159 OPS, Mallamo has seven doubles and two bombs to match that 1.159 OPS, with Garza's seven doubles and four triples bumping her sum to a 1.054.  
In fact, the Jaguars as a team enters Wednesday's playoff opener with such heady offensive numbers as a .371/.440/.481 slash line and 193 runs scored in the 26 games (7.4 average). Furthermore, Quintero and Mallamo have handled the entirety of work from the circle, with Quintero producing numbers just as impressive as her batting: a 2.78 ERA and 140 strikeouts against 40 walks in 126.0 innings.

The two teams' common opponents mostly took place in Kimball's backyard at the NorCal Leadoff Classic. St. Francis rolled past Ceres and Pitman by scores of 14-4 and 10-0. Kimball edged Ceres, 5-3, back on March 3; but suffered a 9-6 loss to Pitman after the Pride's shutout loss to the Troubies. Another shared experience for both teams is an extra-inning loss to Davis. St. Francis fell to the Blue Devils in eight both at the Leadoff Classic then again on Wednesday, while the Jags fell by a 6-1 final to Davis in nine innings on Day 2 of the tourney.

Tickets are available exclusively through GoFan, with a direct link available here: https://gofan.co/event/6601666?schoolId=CIFSJS