Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Erin Flattery of St. Edmond picks up a ground ball against North Union last Thursday at Rogers Park.

Nick Clark gets his first official taste of postseason softball Monday night, leading St. Edmond into a Class 1A regional contest against Coon Rapids-Bayard.

Action is set for 7 p.m. at Rogers Park.

The winner between the Gaels (9-17 overall) and Crusaders (12-13) gets No. 5 Newell-Fonda (27-10) on Wednesday night in a Region 3 quarterfinal in Fonda at 7 p.m.

St. Edmond has lost each of its last four, with two of the losses coming to ranked teams in Algona (No. 10, 3A) and North Union (No. 2, 2A).

Erin Flattery leads the Gaels, batting .481 with an on-base percentage of .534. She has 14 steals, 10 RBI and nine extra-base hits, while also drawing 10 walks and striking out just eight times.

Megan Flattery, the lone senior on the team, is hitting .461 with 19 steals, a team-high 23 RBI and has hit three home runs.

Sydney Nelson, Jocy Timmerman and Jacque Oberg all have 10-plus RBI, while junior Audrey Kolacia sports a 2-to-1 walk-to-strikeout ratio.

On the season, St. Edmond has scored 127 runs, stolen 95 bases and has 52 extra-base hits. They are batting .337 as a team.

Eighth-grader Ella Vratny will get the start in the circle, sporting a 5-12 record with 71 strikeouts to just 39 walks on the season. She has thrown 127 innings and allowed 205 hits.

Coon Rapids-Bayard has gone 6-5 down the stretch, including a three-game winning streak at one-point. Junior Kayla Lenz has posted an 11-5 record inside the circle, striking out 84 batters over 101-plus innings. She does have 92 walks on the season.

At the plate, junior Jade Hays, senior Brianna Davis and sophomores Kristin Mahlberg and Katelyn Winnett are all batting over .400, including a team-leading .488 by Hays.

Mahlberg has 25 RBI and Winnett 24, while Hays is 30-for-31 on stolen base attempts. As a team, the Crusaders are hitting .372 with 72 steals, 137 RBI and 49 extra-base hits.

The other first round games feature Glidden-Ralston vs. Audubon and Exira-EHK vs. CAM, while the bottom side of the bracket includes Lynnville-Sully, North Mahaska, Colo-Nesco, GMG, Montezuma and Tri-County.

The regional final will be next Monday at the highest remaining seeds home field.

REGIONAL SOFTBALL PAIRINGS

(Area teams only)

Class 5A

Region 2

Friday, July 7

Sioux City East at Fort Dodge

Class 4A

Region 3

Thursday, July 6

Webster City at Waverly-Shell Rock

Class 3A

Region 1

Wednesday, July 5

East Sac County at Pocahontas Area; Hampton-Dumont at Algona; Clarion-Goldfield/Dows at Iowa Falls-Alden

Region 3

Gilbert at Humboldt; Greene County at Cherokee; Carroll Kuemper at Southeast Valley

Class 2A

Region 1

Wednesday, July 5

MMCRU/Sioux Central winner at North Union; Western Christian at Emmetsburg

Region 2

Monday, July 3

Belmond-Klemme at Manson Northwest Webster; South Central Calhoun at OA-BCIG

Wednesday, July 5

Lake Mills at Eagle Grove

Class 1A

Region 3

Monday, July 3

Coon Rapids-Bayard at St. Edmond

Wednesday, July 5

Coon Rapids-Bayard/St. Edmond winner at Newell-Fonda

Region 4

Monday, July 3

West Hancock at Bishop Garrigan; West Bend-Mallard at Mason City Newman