Greyhounds sweep

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Cathedral High softball team took control of the Tomahawk Conference Thursday, sweeping Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 6-1 and 10-7 in a doubleheader at North Park.

"These were big wins for us," Greyhound coach Bob Mertz said. "We did all the little things right in the first game, and were able to take advantage of some things in the second game that gave us the win."

Dee Wilfahrt won the first game on a four-hitter, striking out nine and walking two in the complete-game effort. Erin Scherer shouldered the loss for St. Mary's (9-4, 7-3), yielding eight hits and a walk while striking out four.

"Dee did all right for us, but she had a hard time getting into a groove," Mertz said. "She pitched well for awhile there, but she threw a lot of innings today."

The Greyhounds (9-0) scored a run in the first courtesy of three Knight errors, but St. Mary's got that run back in the top of the second as Scherer's single to left-center plated Kristy Schumacher, who reached after getting hit by a pitch.

Cathedral would break the game open in the third inning, scoring three runs on three hits and another SESM miscue. Wilfahrt helped her own cause with an RBI sacrifice fly, and Kelly Kuehn followed with an infield hit that scored Chandra Petersen. When the throw to first on the Kuehn grounder was high, Kari Franta scored to give the Hounds a 4-1 advantage.

Wilfahrt cruised through the middle innings by retiring 10 straight batters, including striking out the side in the fourth. Her teammates got a pair of insurance runs in the fifth on a run-scoring single off the bat of Abby Hofmeister and a Nikki Fischer sacrifice fly to right.

Franta and Hofmeister each had two hits to lead Cathedral. Emily Schroepfer ended game one with two of the Knights' four hits.

Cathedral 10, St. Mary's 7

The second game of the twinbill was not as pretty as the first. Cathedral took advantage of 14 walks to score 10 runs on just six hits.

"(SESM) threw some different pitchers, and we threw some different pitchers," Mertz said. "We needed to give Dee a rest with the (Delano) tournament coming up (today and Saturday)."

Wilfahrt did pick up the win, throwing five innings of two-hit ball while striking out four and walking two. Amber Franta yielded four runs on four hits in two innings of work.

Rachel Helget took the loss for the Knights, throwing the first four innings, but tried to help her own cause by going 2-for-4 at the plate. Teammate Amelia Hoffmann added a triple and two RBI.

Kristin Beranek was the lone Cathedral player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3.

The Greyhound B-squad (7-0) swept a doubleheader from St. Mary's as well, winning the first game 3-2 as Ashley Hillesheim scattered six hits and helped her own cause with a double.

Game two was an 11-0 Cathedral win, with Julie Seifert spinning a four-hitter with six strikeouts. Teammate Jessica Stadick had a triple and four RBI to lead the offense, and Andrea Petersen finished with a hit and two RBI.

Game 1

SESM 010 000 0 -- 1 4 4

CHS 103 020 x -- 6 8 2

WP-Wilfahrt, LP-Scherer.

Game 2

CHS 013 240 0 -- 10 6 1

SESM 120 004 0 -- 7 8 3

WP-Wilfahrt, LP-Helget.