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April 15, 2000
Hounds roll over SCMCBy BOB VARMETTE Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM -- It's early in the season, and New Ulm Cathedral Bob Mertz isn't ready to make any predictions just yet. But there is one thing for sure. Cathedral is already on a roll. Needing only five hits, and helped by four Springfield/Cedar Mountain/Comfrey errors, the Greyhounds won their second straight, taking a 10-0 win in five innings from the Tigers in Tomahawk Conference softball at North Park Friday. The game was called on the 10-run rule with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. "Until the third inning, it was touch and go there," Mertz said. "It was a nice game, a nice win for us." It was the second rout of the season for Cathedral (2-0, 2-0 Tomahawk). The Greyhounds pounded defending Class 1A champion Wabasso 9-1 Tuesday. Greyhound junior Dee Wilfahrt got her first win of the season, throwing a three-hitter. Wilfahrt (1-0) struck out four and walked only one Tiger batter. "The first two innings, I was really pumped to go out there and I was warmed up, and I wasn't sitting on the bench too much," Wilfahrt said. "But after a while, we were sitting on the bench more and I was getting a little cold after that." SCMC (0-3, 0-2) never really did solve Wilfahrt. The Tigers got only four baserunners and only one reached third base. "Everything was working for me, I had to mix it up a lot," Wilfahrt said. "Drop, rise, change, everything was mixed in there." After the first two innings, both Wilfahrt and SCMC starter Bobbie Jo Barron (0-1) were perfect. And it was Wilfahrt who relented first, to her pitching opposite. Barron reached on a two-out single in the third and Sara Anderson reached on an error. But Wilfahrt got Jodi Poorvliet to ground to second to end the threat. The Tigers also got a pair of baserunners in the fourth when Kara Anderson doubled to right to lead off the inning. Two outs later, Stacy Hoffbeck blooped a single to shallow left-center, but Kara Anderson couldn't score and Cathedral got out of the inning unscathed. "Consistency has been our problem all year -- pitching, hitting, playing defense," SCMC coach Rachel Peterson said. "We're young yet." In her first start, Barron went four innings, allowing four runs on two hits. She struck out four and walked three. Katie Baier worked the fifth and yielded six runs -- two earned -- on three hits. Barron ran out of gas in the third and started leaving pitches up in the strike zone. Natalia Haala and Laura Hazuka made her pay. Natalia Haala lofted an inside-the-park home run over the head of Tiger left fielder Hoffbeck and Hazuka tripled to the gap in left two batters later, driving in Andrea Haala. Hazuka scored on a Barron wild pitch to give Cathedral a 4-0 lead. "(Barron) tends to aim after a while and kind of loses her rhythm," Peterson said. "I think that's what happened. That's why I pulled her after the next inning and threw (Baier) in there." Hazuka finished 2-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run in the Greyhounds' six-run fifth and three RBI. "(Barron) didn't offer a whole lot of speed," Hazuka said. "We got her timed real well and after the first couple of innings everybody started to hit her real well. It was a good offensive game all around." Hazuka's homer brought in the first two runs for the Greyhounds in the fifth. The Tigers' first two errors of the day upped the lead to 8-0 and Cathy Boettger ended the game with a pinch-hit, two-RBI single. "We still got a long ways to go, but we've got a lot going for us," Hazuka said. In the junior varsity game, Cathedral pounded SCMC 12-2. Ashley Hillesheim got the win on a one-hitter with four strikeouts. Amanda Portner and Danielle Fischer each got two hits for the Greyhounds. Fischer had a home run and two RBI. In the freshman game, Cathedral won, 9-1. Sam Bode struck out 13 to get the win and Linsday Hillesheim went 4-for-4 with four RBI for the Greyhounds. SCMC will play at Minnesota Valley Lutheran at 4:30 p.m. Monday. Cathedral will travel to Brownton for an early-season Tomahawk showdown with McLeod West at 4:30 p.m. Monday. SCMC 000 00 -- 0 3 4 CATHEDRAL 004 06 -- 10 5 1 One out when game called on 10-run rule. Barron, Baier (5) and Dauer. Wilfahrt and Hazuka. W--Wilfahrt, 1-0. L--Barron, 0-1. HRs--Cathedral, N.Haala, Hazuka.
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