Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Payton Bradley slides safely in to score for St. Edmond in a Class 1A regional quarterfinal on Wednesday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The ninth-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond softball team opened up postseason play here Wednesday night with a convincing 10-0 victory in six innings over North Iowa.

Kaili Henning fired a three-hitter, taking a perfect game into the fifth, Josie Harvey drove in three runs and Anna Kolacia had two hits, two RBI and two runs for the Gaels (21-11 overall).

St. Edmond advances to the 1A, Region 2 semifinals where they will host West Fork (17-7) on Friday night. With a win, the Gaels would play for one of eight spots in the state tournament this coming Monday.

“We’ve been doing a little more of that small-ball style here as of late,” SEHS head coach Bill Shirbroun said. “In the third, we were able to take advantage of (North Iowa’s) mistakes and really string things together.

“I thought we had a good night of hitting the ball hard from several girls.”

All nine St. Edmond players reached base at least once, as Faith Shirbroun and Henning each drove in a run. Shirbroun, Kolacia, Harvey and Michaela Leiting — who scored twice — all stole a base.

“Kaili was really firing,” Shirbroun said. “We didn’t have a lot of tough plays to make in the field, but we made them.”

Lauren Gibb rocked a ball to the fence that resulted in a triple in the first, as she came around to score on an error. In the second, Harvey dropped a double with two strikes that plated Leiting.

The Gaels really opened it up in the third on North Iowa’s (14-8) Jaycee Plath, taking advantage of five hits, two walks and a hit batter to score six runs. Harvey had a two-RBI single and Henning added an RBI-double.

Hadley Oswald was 2-for-2 with a walk, and Myrah Lemon recorded a hit.

“We didn’t really set out to use the bunt like that, but it was there and the girls were putting them down for hits,” Shirbroun said. “We really rattled their defense and used our speed to take extra bases.”

That was all the run support Henning would need, as she earned her 12th win of the season with seven strikeouts and no walks. The junior retired the first 12 batters she faced until a single by Eden Greensky started the fifth.

West Fork knocked off Bishop Garrigan (16-9) last night to also advance. The Warhawks tied for fourth in the Top of Iowa Conference East this past season and have now won three straight.

ST. EDMOND 10, NORTH IOWA 0 (6 inn.)

North Iowa 000 000 — 0 3 1

St. Edmond 116 101 — 10 11 0

WP–Kaili Henning (12-4, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB). LP–Jaycee Plath (13-7, 5ª IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 3 K, 0 BB).

3B–SE: Josie Harvey. 2B–SE: Kaili Henning (2). RBI–SE: Faith Shirbroun, Kaili Henning, Anna Kolacia (2), Josie Harvey (3). SB–SE: Faith Shirbroun, Anna Kolacia, Josie Harvey, Michaela Leiting.