Mid-Prairie sent to consolation bracket

FORT DODGE -- Where's the weakness? Where's the spot in which a pitcher can take a breath and get an easy out?With Fort Dodge St. Edmond, apparently nowhere.No. 8 batter Josie Heesch, a freshman, poked a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give St. Edmond some breathing room, and the 11th-ranked Gaels defeated Mid-Prairie, 5-2, in a Class 2A quarterfinal at the state softball tournament Monday at the Rogers Sports Complex.St. Edmond (31-5) sports a remarkably balanced lineup. All nine regulars hit .320 or better.But that, according to Mid-Prairie Coach Justin Lutgen, "wasn't the problem.""They had probably four solid base hits," he said. "The other four hits were routine plays we normally make. Other than one pitch that she left fat, (pitcher) Olivia (Lugar) couldn't have thrown any better."St. Edmond advances to face No. 8 Wayne (26-3) in a semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday while Mid-Prairie (21-17) meets IKM-Manning (24-14) in a consolation semifinal at 10 a.m. Wednesday.The Golden Hawks slipped into an early 3-0 hole, climbed most of the way out, then Heesch shoved them back down for good.St. Edmond's first three runs were unearned. The Golden Hawks committed two errors in the first three innings, and gave up some other chances on plays that could have been made.Mid-Prairie struck for two runs in the bottom of the third to sneak within 3-2.Mariah Swartzendruber led off with a single and scored on Mallory McArtor's triple, then McArtor tallied on Kaitlin Kaalberg's groundout.But that was all the Golden Hawks could muster against St. Edmond pitcher Jordan Florey, who finished with a three-hitter and fanned 12 while walking none."She did a great job," Lutgen said. "She kept us off balance."

Fort Dodge St. Edmond...............................012 002 0 -- 5  8  2

Mid-Prairie .................................................002 000 0 -- 2  3  2

Jordan Florey (W) and Marti Dencklau. Olivia Lugar (L) and Erika Murphy. HR -- FDSE: Josie Heesch (4).