The Xavier Saints will host the girls regional softball finals for the first time in school history Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for the Saints, they won't be playing.

The 15th-ranked North Scott Lancers eliminated the sixth-ranked Saints from the postseason tournament, 8-4, Saturday night in the Class 4A regional semifinals at Bob Erusha Field.

North Scott will play the Washington Demons in the regional finals Tuesday at Xavier. The Saints will be the hosts, but they'll be spectators.

Anna Boffeli, who hit only one home run during the regular season, socked a pair of homers and drove in five runs for North Scott. Anne DeVries went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Lancers, who built an early 5-0 lead and withstood a late rally by the Saints.

Xavier captured the first Mississippi Valley Conference title in school history this season and won 29 games, but the Saints thought they had a shot at making the state tournament with both of their postseason games scheduled for their home field.

"It was a good year. They're a hard-working group," said Xavier Coach Nikki Price. "It's just a shame it has to end this way."

Boffeli belted a two-run homer in the first inning, drew a bases-loaded walk in the third inning, hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and ripped an RBI single in the sixth.

She wasn't sure where all that power came from.

"I don't know," she said, laughing. "I just went up there and swung the bat hard. I knew my team needed my bat, so I just really went in there looking for hits tonight."

The Saints (29-11) got two hits in the top of the first inning as the visiting team, but DeVries retired 14 straight batters after that and North Scott kept building its lead.

Jenna Schulte hit a two-run homer to pull the Saints within 5-2 in the top of the sixth and Xavier put another runner on base, but North Scott third baseman Lindsey Gallens made a sensational diving stop on a ball hit down the line to retire the side and prevent further damage.

The Lancers scored three times in the bottom of the sixth for an 8-2 lead, with DeVries hitting a two-run double to left field.

Xavier rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh, but Schulte grounded out to the pitcher to end the game with two runners on base and the tying run in the on-deck circle.

Price reminded her players about all the good things they accomplished this season, but there were plenty of tears and wet eyes after the game. The Saints finished with a 29-12 record and won the Valley Division title in the MVC.

"We talked about how it was a good year," said Price. "Obviously this isn't the way we wanted it to end, but everybody is going to end it sometime. (I told them) not to hang their heads. But remember the feeling for next year, though."

North Scott (24-14) will return to Xavier Tuesday at 7 p.m. to face the Washington Demons in the regional finals. The winner will advance to the state tournament in Fort Dodge.

"I'm really excited," said Boffeli. "We obviously played pretty well on this field tonight, so I know we can come back and bring our 'A' game and win the next game and get to state."

XAVIER (4): Schwach, 2b, 4 1 3 1, Galligan, lf, 3 0 0 0, Schulte, 1b, 4 1 1 2, Drahozal, p/dp, 3 0 2 0, Bastian, cr, 0 0 0 0, Feltes, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Breitbach, rf, 3 1 1 0, Miller, c, 3 0 1 0, Helms, cr, 0 1 0 0, Deutmeyer, ss, 3 0 0 1, Colston, cf, 3 0 0 0, Wiebold, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 4 8 4.

NORTH SCOTT (8): Heim, ss, 3 2 2 1, Gallens, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Boffeli, 1b, 3 3 3 5, O'Neill, dp, 4 0 0 0, Youngers, pr, 0 0 0 0, Thomas, rf, 4 1 1 0, DeVries, p, 4 0 4 2, Naber, cr, 0 1 0 0, Lindaman, 2b, 2 1 1 0, Alberts, c, 2 0 0 0, Saladino, cf, 2 0 0 0, Van Blaricom, ph, 1 0 0 0, Youngers, lf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 27 8 11 8.

Xavier          000 002 2 - 4 8 2
North Scott  220 103 x - 8 11 1

Drahozal, Wiebold (3) and Miller. DeVries and Alberts. W - DeVries. L - Drahozal. 2B - Miller, DeVries. HR - Schulte, Boffeli 2. SB - Heim 2, O'Neill.