Norwalk is headed back to the State Softball Tournament; and this time, no late-inning dramatics were needed.

One year after scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally past Benton 7-6 in the on-to-state game, the 4th-ranked Warriors shut out No. 12 Burlington 5-0 in Tuesday’s Class 4A, Region 6 final heard live on the KNIA3 stream. Norwalk pitchers Zadie Wadle and Olivia Dougherty combined on a five-hit shutout and the fireworks occurred early this time around on Lauren Black’s towering two-RBI home run in the first inning.

Black’s 10th homer of the season made it 2-0. The junior catcher says she was surprised to get something to hit with first base open, but she was ready when it happened. “I just knew I had to put the ball in play somehow to advance the runner and I’ve been seeing the ball pretty well, and the ball just hit the sweet spot on my bat,” she said.

The Warriors would not get their next hit off Burlington pitcher Saydee Plummer until the sixth, when they plated three big insurance runs. Wadle crushed an RBI double to make it 3-0, pinch-hitter Grace Dehmer hit a two-run single and Maddie Gullion and Addie Downe also hit safely in the inning.

Wadle improved to 19-5 in the circle, pitching six scoreless innings of four-hit ball, striking out seven and walking none. Dougherty threw a scoreless seventh with two Ks.

Norwalk avenged a 2-0 regular-season loss to the Grayhounds, improving to 31-9 overall. The Warriors will be the number four seed in the Class 4A state tournament and face Western Dubuque (29-9) in a quarterfinal game Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

Norwalk coach Beau Livingston tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that the Warriors have made tremendous growth, both physically and mentally, since last year’s trip to state. He adds that the team still has unfinished business on its goal list.

“We have quite a few goals, but only three softball-related goals,” he said. “We want to win the Little Hawkeye (Conference), we want to end our season in Fort Dodge, and we want to win the state championship. So we have check-marked the first two.”

Norwalk will be making the program’s 13th appearance all-time in the State Softball Tournament.