—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla ST. EDMONd players celebrate after baylor ulrich hits her first career home run in the Gaels postseason contest against Collins-Maxwell. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

The St. Edmond softball team showed here Friday night why they are the state leader in stolen bases.

Behind six steals from five different players, coupled with a big four-run first, the third-ranked (Class 1A) Gaels scored a resounding 11-3 victory in five innings over Collins-Maxwell.

With the win, St. Edmond (24-9 overall) moves into the Region 3 championship back here at Rogers Park on Monday night vs. Martensdale-St. Marys. The Blue Devils (15-15) topped Ankeny Christian, 8-0 in five.

Baylor Ulrich, an eighth-grader, hit her first career home run, as freshman sister Breckyn Ulrich stole two of the six bases. Faith Shirbroun, Ella Vandi, Rihanna Myers and Jade Rock each added a steal.

“I know we might not look like a fast team, but we have a lot of girls that know how to run the bases really, really well,” SEHS head coach Bill Shirbroun said. “We are aggressive and we like to take advantage of that.”

Things started out a little rough for the Gaels, as the Spartans (17-6) claimed a 2-0 lead in the first on a homer by Jayden Peters. St. Edmond, though, answered back, plating four in the home half and batting through the order.

That was more than enough for Toryn Helle, as the ace retired eight in a row after allowing the blast to Peters. She finished with four strikeouts and just three hits allowed, walking one.

“We forced many of the errors that (Collins-Maxwell) committed because of how hard we hit the softball,” Shirbroun said. “I thought we did a great job of making contact and running the bases. The girls are playing with a lot of confidence right now, especially at the plate.”

St. Edmond would add three more in the second, one in the third and three in the fourth. Vandi was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a double, Shirbroun had two hits and scored twice with an RBI, Myers and Rock each scored twice, and Breckyn Ulrich drove in three on the night.

All nine batters in the Gael order had either a hit, scored a run or drove in a run.

Going into Friday night, St. Edmond had swiped 223 bases, 23 ahead of second place Carlisle.

ST. EDMOND 11, COLLINS-MAXWELL 3 (5 inn.)

Collins-Maxwell 200 10 — 3 3 5

St. Edmond 431 3x — 11 9 1

WP–Toryn Helle (19-4, 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB). LP–Jayden Peters (16-5, 4 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 5 K, 3 BB).

HR–C-M: Jayden Peters; SE: Baylor Ulrich. 2B–C-M: Jayden Peters; SE: Myrah Lemon, Ella Vandi. RBI–C-M: Jayden Peters (2); SE: Faith Shirbroun, Breckyn Ulrich (3), Greenlee Crimmins, Baylor Ulrich. SB–C-M: Cypress Erickson; SE: Breckyn Ulrich (2), Faith Shirbroun, Ella Vandi, Rihanna Myers, Jade Rock.