The postseason begins here Wednesday night at Rogers Park for the ninth-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond softball team.

Up first for the Gaels (20-11 overall) will be North Iowa (14-7) in a Region 2 contest. First-pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Last week, St. Edmond put the finishing touches on its first outright North Central Conference crown since 2015 with a 6-3 win over Humboldt. They also shared the title last year with Webster City.

Junior Kaili Henning enters the night with 130 strikeouts in just under 93 innings pitched, sporting a record of 11-4. She will be matched up with fellow 11th-grader Jaycee Plat, who has gone 13-6 and owns 127 strikeouts in 124-plus innings.

Lauren Gibb is one of six Gaels hitting over .300, as the sophomore leads the team with an average of .451. She has 11 extra-base hits, 17 RBI and 33 runs scored.

Henning is also the team leader in RBI with 22, while Ansley Oswald has 18. Payton Bradley, senior Anna Kolacia, Faith Shirbroun and Hadley Oswald all have at least 10 RBI on the year.

As a squad, St. Edmond is hitting .320 with a .381 on-base and a .437 slugging. They have scored 180 runs with seven homers, 10 triples and 51 doubles.

On the bases, Shirbroun leads the way with 33 steals followed by Kolacia (24) and Gibb (22). Overall, the Gaels have 147 stolen bases from 13 players.

Like Henning, Plat is one of the top hitters for North Iowa, checking in with a .529 average. She has two homers and 20 RBI with 11 doubles. Ava Meinders, Ashlyn Bechler, Sophia Hagen and Eden Greensky are all hitting over .300.

The Bison have scored 160 runs with 35 extra-base hits and 87 steals as a collective unit.

Awaiting the winner between St. Edmond and North Iowa will be either West Fork (16-7) or Bishop Garrigan (16-8) on Friday at 7 p.m. The top-half of the bracket sees Newell-Fonda (26-8) face Coon Rapids-Bayard (11-14) and Glidden-Ralston (14-7) host GTRA (15-13).