IOLA -- North Zulch's outstanding season had a tough ending as Flatonia capped an amazing weekend with a 14-3 victory Saturday afternoon in Class A regional quarterfinal softball playoff action.

Flatonia (24-2-1) was led by freshman first baseman Taylor Williams and senior pitcher Kalli Mikulik. Williams opened her team's scoring with a three-run homer and Mikulik ended the game via the run rule with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth.

They were a pretty good tag team this weekend. Mikulik and Williams ran the first two legs on the school's 800-meter relay that placed second at the state track meet Friday in Austin.

Flatonia's participation in the track meet forced the game between Lady Bulldogs to be played Saturday, which seemed to work to North Zulch's advantage when pitcher Katie Gilbert strained her shoulder Wednesday in practice.

North Zulch head coach Karen Heintz, who was hired Monday as A&M Consolidated's girls basketball coach, took Gilbert to see Consol trainer Jeff Mann. She eventually saw Texas A&M team orthopedic surgeon J.P. Bramhall.

The diagnosis was only a strain. She was released to pitch, but even with the extra day's rest, she wasn't effective.

"Her speed was way off, way off," Heintz said. "And she wasn't hitting her riseball. So basically, all [she] had was an inside fastball. And she wasn't hitting her drop."

Heintz, though, first praised Flatonia, saying she didn't want to short-change the victors or make excuses for her team's shortcomings.

"That was a pretty quality pitcher," Heintz said. "They're a quality team."

Flatonia racked Gilbert (20-9) for four runs in each of the first two innings. Williams powered a 3-2 pitch well over the left-field fence in the first after an error and hit batter got NZ in trouble. Mikulik's two-run double highlighted the second inning that made it 8-1.

Gilbert hit the first pitch in the fifth for her third homer of the season. Not all the fans saw the towering shot leave the park because of the bright sun, which was a welcome sight for the last two innings.

The game had been scheduled for Rockdale, but rain sent the teams scrambling for a field with the Lady Bulldogs landing at Lady Bulldog Field.

Flatonia head coach Rodney Stryk, who is in his 11th year, is just glad Mikulik found her way back to Flatonia. Mikulik played for him as a freshman and sophomore but moved to Schulenburg for her junior season. She's had every pitching decision this year for Flatonia, which didn't make the playoffs last year without her.

Flatonia, which advances to play seventh-ranked Santa Gertudis or Woodsboro, won state in 2003 and reached the regional finals in 2005. Mart and D'Hanis will meet in the other semifinal series.

North Zulch is just glad to be back among the region's best. After missing the playoffs the last two seasons, NZ won 26-A outright, a rare accomplishment. The Bulldogs made several playoff appearances in basketball and volleyball and even had a couple softball co-championships in the last 18 seasons, but never an outright championship.

"That's something we're pretty proud of," Heintz said.

Even though Heintz is leaving, the program's winning should continue. North Zulch's lone seniors were shortstop Erika Rodriguez and first baseman Shelby McLain.

"We've got a lot of good, young kids," Heintz said. "We had two really good leaders in that shortstop and first baseman."

Rodriguez said playing hard and sticking together made this team a winner.

"I knew we were going to be pretty good," said Rodriguez, a three-year starter. "We had a lot of younger girls come up, but we just pulled through."

North Zulch (20-9) made Mikulik and her defense work for the victory.

North Zulch scored first. Gilbert walked, stole second and came home when Flatonia shortstop Courtney Mica threw the ball away on Payton Standley's grounder.

North Zulch added a run in the third again via a Gilbert walk. She came home when Rodriguez doubled off the third baseman's glove. North Zulch couldn't add more runs even though Flatonia made its third error of the game and Mikulik walked her third batter to load the bases.

"We really weren't sharp," Stryk said.

Jenna Wiltshire singled to right to start the fifth and she eventually scored on another Standley grounder.

Heintz said the team really improved its hitting this year. North Zulch was limited to two hits Saturday but struck out only three times.

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NOTES -- Sophomore Mica ran the third leg of the 800-meter relay with her senior sister, Cailin Mica, running the anchor. Cailin Mica played third base. The quartet clocked a time of 1 minute, 47.22 seconds. Dallas Gateway won in 1:44.78. ... Heintz was proud of the relief work of freshman Mikayla Imhoff. "You don't work much with your second pitcher in practice," Heintz said. "She got some big outs."

Flatonia 14, North Zulch 3

NZ 101 01 -- 3 2 3

Flatonia 440 24 -- 14 7 3

Katie Gilbert, Mikayla Imhoff (3) and Cori Drake. Kalli Mikulik and Kaci Pavlicek. W -- Mikulik, 24-2-1. L -- Gilbert, 20-9. HR -- Taylor Williams, Flatonia (6th), Gilbert (3rd). Leading hitters -- (NZ) Erika Rodriguez 2B, RBI; Jenna Wiltshire 1B; (F) Mikulik 2-4, 6 RBIs; Williams HR, 3 RBIs.