Webster City's Delainey Bargfrede pitches against St. Edmond at Rogers Park on Wednesday night. (Messenger Photo by Britt Kudla)

FORT DODGE — Brad VanDeer could see the benefits that came out of Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss to St. Edmond here at Rogers Park.

But he also knows how tough the defeat felt to his players.

The Lynx had a chance to claim the outright North Central Conference by completing a season sweep of the Gaels. Instead, St. Edmond earned at least a share, with Webster City having two league games to secure its piece of the trophy.

“Good comes out of everything,” WCHS head coach Brad VanDeer said. “We didn’t play poorly, we just didn’t execute early in the game. Little things really matter and really come into play in tight games like this.

“St. Edmond is a very good team and they beat us.”

VanDeer added that “it hurts right now,” but “it also showed us how important the little things are.”

“In games like this, you have to do those little things to win,” he said. “We’ll clean that up and learn from our mistakes.”

The Lynx cut a 2-0 deficit to one in the fifth when Bonnie Nohrenberg drove in Chloe Anderson. They would get no closer, though, leaving six runners on base including four in scoring positions.

Ava Peterson had a double in the second, while Alayna Finucan, Kelly Stoakes, Trinity Griffith and Anderson had the other Webster City hits. Stoakes also reached on a walk, as did Adeline Tesdahl.

Delainey Bargfrede struck out four and allowed seven hits. She had three of her four strikeouts in the final two innings.

“We knew it would take an effort like that against a very good Webster City team and a very good pitcher in Delainey,” SEHS head coach Bill Shirbroun said. “They got us once and we got them once.”

Webster City hosted Eagle Grove on Thursday night and finishes the regular season Friday at Humboldt and Saturday vs. Iowa Falls-Alden.

ST. EDMOND 4, WEBSTER CITY 1

WC 000 010 0 — 1 5 2

SE 010 120 x — 4 7 0

WP–Kaili Henning (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 10 K, 3 BB). LP–Delainey Bargfrede (6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 K, 0 BB). 2B–WC: Ava Peterson; SE: Faith Shirbroun (2), Gracie Harvey (2). RBI–WC: Bonnie Nohrenberg; SE: Gracie Harvey, Kaili Henning, Anna Kolacia, Hadley Oswald. SB–WC: Alayna Finucan; SE: Faith Shirbroun, Josie Harvey, Ansley Oswald.