Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Faith Shirbroun of St. Edmond connects for a home run against Clear Lake on Monday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Bill Shirbroun was very pleased of the response he saw time and time again from his sixth-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond softball team here on Monday night.

Down 8-7 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Gaels rallied, scoring five runs before shutting the door on No. 15 (3A) Clear Lake in the seventh for a 12-8 victory at Rogers Park.

“Just proud of them,” Shirbroun said. “We didn’t play a great game in the field. We had some missed opportunities out there. But in the end, they never gave up and never quit fighting.

“That was a great win for us against a very good ballclub.”

Faith Shirbroun hit her 28th career home run in the first, blasting a two-run shot that moved her within one of tying Josie (Heesch) Harvey for the career record at St. Edmond (10-1 overall, 4-0 in the North Central Conference). The senior finished 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base.

In the seventh, the Gaels received a big two-RBI double from Shirbroun that nearly left the yard, along with RBI hits by Ella Vandi and Breckyn Ulrich to erase the Clear Lake (11-1, 4-1) lead.

From there, Toryn Helle picked up two of her three strikeouts in the seventh, working around an error and a double by the Lions to preserve the victory.

“Toryn really battled out there,” Shirbroun said. “She never gets rattled inside the circle. She commands such a strong presence and really did a great job of settling everybody down when things got rough.”

St. Edmond committed six errors, including two in the fifth when the Lions four and two more in the sixth when they took the lead. Jezzie Thompson had a three-run homer during that rally, but Helle got grounders to end the sixth with two on and the seventh with runners on second and third.

“I thought our defense recovered well late in the game,” Shirbroun said. “When the ball isn’t bouncing your way, it tends to continue finding you. We stuck with it and got out of trouble.”

Jade Rock, Helle, Vandi and Ulrich each had two hits, as Ulrich drove in two and stole two bases. Rock and Myrah Lemon both scored twice, as did Baylor Ulrich.

St. Edmond scored runs in each of the six innings it came to the plate.

“That was as hard as we have hit the ball in a while,” Shirbroun said. “And scoring in all six innings was something that we felt helped put the pressure back on (Clear Lake) throughout the game.”

The Gaels will take a day off before heading to Algona on Wednesday followed by a home game with GTRA on Thursday. St. Edmond will travel to Clear Lake for a rematch on June 26.

ST. EDMOND 12, CLEAR LAKE 8

Clear Lake 001 142 0 — 8 9 4

St. Edmond 211 215 x — 12 13 6

WP–Toryn Helle (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 K, 1 BB). LP–Jezzie Thompson (2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 1 K, 1 BB).

HR–CL: Jezzie Thompson; SE: Faith Shirbroun. 2B–CL: Jezzie Thompson, Aspen Hill; SE: Faith Shirbroun, Toryn Helle. RBI–CL: Alivia Paine, Jezzie Thompson (3), Taylor Bedford; SE: Faith Shirbroun (3), Toryn Helle, Ella Vandi, Myrah Lemon, Breckyn Ulrich (2). SB–CL: Aspen Hill (2), Makyla Johnson; SE: Sophia Schlienz, Jade Rock, Myrah Lemon, Faith Shirbroun, Greenlee Crimmins, Breckyn Ulrich (2), Baylor Ulrich.