-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla St. Edmond celebrate a victory over Clear Lake on Friday

Faith Shirbroun was 4-for-4 with a two-run homer, Kaili Henning struck out eight and the eighth-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond softball team scored an 8-1 victory over Clear Lake in their home opener here Friday night.

Shirbroun, who also had two doubles, cleared the fence in left on the first pitch she saw in the fourth. The freshman also scored twice with a stolen base.

Lauren Gibb, Henning and Josie Harvey each had two hits, with Gibb, Ansley Oswald, Henning and Payton Bradley all driving in a run.

“We really did a nice job at the plate,” SEHS head coach Bill Shirbroun said. “We had quality at-bats and when we put the bat on the ball, we did so with a lot of power behind it.

“Faith has put in a lot of work and I thought this was one of her better games at the plate. She jumped all over that pitch and had some hard-hit balls in her other at-bats.”

Henning, making her first start of the season inside the circle, had at least one strikeout in all but one inning. She sat down the first 11 batters she faced before a Clear Lake hitter reached on an error.

“This was the plan to slowly get her back pitching,” Shirbroun said. “It’s a long season and we know that to have our best team out there in the end, we need a healthy and strong Kaili pitching.

“She pitched a smart game. Everything wasn’t working like it does for her at times, but she still kept them off balance.”

The Gaels (3-1 overall, 2-0 in North Central Conference) got on the board early as Shirbroun connected for her first double and scored on a base hit by Gibb. Henning’s double plated Gibb to make it 2-0.

St. Edmond doubled its lead in the third when eighth-grader Myrah Lemon and Gibb scored, while Shirbroun connected on her homer in the fourth. They added one more run in the sixth on a double-steal that saw another eighth-grader, Sophia Schlienz, score.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do to get where we want to be, but after the first week, I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Shirbroun said. “Now, we get a nice little break before coming back next week with some tough games.

“I’m really excited about our schedule and how much it will prepare us. We’re going to need to clean some areas of the game up, but I know we’ll get there.”

St. Edmond has now won three consecutive and four of the last five with Clear Lake. They are also 15-1 over the last 16 NCC games dating back to last season.

Next action for the Gaels will be Tuesday when they host Southeast Valley in a non-conference affair.

ST. EDMOND 8, CLEAR LAKE 1

CL 000 000 1 — 1 5 0

SE 302 200 x — 8 12 1

WP–Kaili Henning (1-0, 7 IP, 5 H, 8 K, 0 BB). LP–Jezzie Thompson (1-2, 6 IP, 12 H, 2 K, 1 BB).

HR–SE: Faith Shirbroun. 2B–CL: Makella Jacobs; SE: Faith Shirbroun (2), Lauren Gibb, Ansley Oswald, Kaili Henning. RBI–CL: Meagan Paine; SE: Faith Shirbroun (2), Lauren Gibb, Ansley Oswald, Kaili Henning, Payton Bradley. SB–CL: Alaina Hartl; SE: Faith Shirbroun, Josie Harvey.