Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Regina softball team only needed one productive inning at the plate against Alburnett on Thursday because it was the beneficiary of seven strong innings on the mound.

Sophomore Emma Nibaur scattered four hits and had six strikeouts over the first six innings and junior Jaelynn Ernst pitched the seventh inning in relief as the Regals prevailed 5-0 in a Class 2A, Region 7 quarterfinal at Regina.

Regina scored all five of its runs in the fifth inning on five hits, including a two-run double to right centerfield by junior Abby Clark. Junior Baylee O’Connor also drove in a run with a double to center field, while junior Kate Milder led off the inning with a single past shortstop.

That was more than enough offense for Nibaur, who also contributed to the fifth-inning offensive outburst with a run-scoring single.

“I could say we were waiting for that person to get it going,” Nibaur said. “We started off a little slow (on offense). But then once Kate got that hit, we were all just fired up and it was just hit after hit after hit.”

Regina improved to 8-13 on the season and will host Cascade (6-8) on Friday at 7 p.m. in a Region 7 semifinal. Cascade upset seventh-ranked Jesup 3-2 in a quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Alburnett finished the shortened season with a 7-12 record.

Every team this summer has faced the fear and uncertainty of knowing that the season could end abruptly should anyone test positive for the Coronavirus, so Nibaur cherishes the chance to keep competing in the playoffs.

“It’s been a really weird season,” Nibaur said. “But we’ve been so thankful. We’re glad that we’ve all been staying safe and it’s just nice that we are still able to play in our regional game and we get a chance at state.”

Alburnett left two runners on base in the third inning and then failed to score in the sixth after its first two batters had reached base on a single and a walk.

Nibaur consistently got ahead of the batters and was effective at pitching to the outside corner of home plate against right-handed batters.

She saw that the home plate umpire was calling strikes on the outside corner to right-handed hitters and she kept pounding that zone.

“I rely heavily on the outside,” Nibaur said. “Even if I didn’t get it called, I can just go back inside. And so it was good night in the circle.”

Regina head coach Morgan Goedken said her team started to click on offense after making one simple adjustment.

“The first four innings it was kind of tight and our kids finally started to adjust and simplify their process, and that’s what really helped,” Goedken said. “When we focused on just getting the contact, things started to come together and the energy came up and we were able to connect some together.”

Goedken praised Nibaur for consistently getting ahead of the batters.

“Getting that first pitch strike is important and Emma did a good job of doing that,” Goedken said. “So when we can go at batters and attack them to where we’re ahead in the count, it gives our defense a chance to field balls that aren’t hit hard right at them.”

The Regals now have less than 24 hours to prepare for its next playoff game. Regina defeated Cascade 5-2 on July 3 in the regular season.

“We play Cascade, that’s all we know about tomorrow night,” Goedken said. “We had a good game with them earlier this year, so hopefully, we can come back out attack early and move on.”

Alburnett       000  000  0  –  0  4  1

Regina            000  050  x   –  5  8  1

W – Emma Nibaur, L – Hailey Carolan.

2B – ICR: Abby Clark, Baylee O’Connor.

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