Another shot at state: Priceless

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- One of the more difficult aspects of the fastpitch game is learning how to be a slap hitter, but New Ulm Cathedral's Becky Hosna has made it look easy.

Hosna is in her first full year of varsity play, but has risen from the lower half of the order to the leadoff hitter with the success she's had. Hosna leads the team with a batting average of .415, and sits atop the team leaderboard in hits (34), runs (28), and at-bats (82). She said that the skill, which she started to learn at the end of her freshman season, is becoming more comfortable for her.

"I'm a lot more comfortable with it now," Hosna said. "I didn't like it before, because I wasn't doing very well with it last year, but it seems like I got the hang of it this year, and I'm having a lot of fun with it, doing different things."

Hosna's hot bat has landed her in the leadoff spot, where she hits in front of Kyley Hillesheim, another slapper, to set the table for the tough middle-of-the-order for the Greyhounds. Hillesheim hit .318 with nine steals.

"At the beginning of the year, we had Kyley there, and then we just kept moving it around every game, and we finally found something worked for us," Hosna said.

Seniors Julie Seifert and Nikki Fischer bat third and fourth, respectively and their veteran leadership has helped the Greyhounds in many late-game situations. Seifert hit .408 with 31 hits and 20 RBIs while Fischer hit .392 with 31 hits and a team-high 28 RBIs. Seifert is also the reigning "Journal Player of the Year," after leading Cathedral to its fourth state title a year ago. She is 18-3 with a 2.03 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 124 innings.

Both Seifert and Fischer, along with head coach Bob Mertz, will play in the 2004 All Star Series on Sunday at Caswell Park.

Sophomore Katie Stueber has emerged as another pleasant surprise. Stueber bats fifth in the lineup, hitting at a .365 clip in the right field position. She also is slated to take over for Seifert next year and has done a good job of pitching in relief. She is 3-1 on the year with a 2.08 ERA and has struck out 49 in 37 innings pitched, including 5-of-6 in a playoff game with Madelia-Truman and retiring all three batters she faced in the Section 2A championship game against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

"I was nervous at the beginning of the season, and now I feel like I fit in," Stueber said. "They've been welcoming and warming. It feels good."

Kirsten Prunty, a freshman at second base, hit .377 in the sixth spot and has walked 13 times, tied with Fischer for the team lead.

Mandy Domeier, a junior, leads the team with a .545 slugging percentage and has come on strong since the midway point of the season. She also hit a home run.

"After our Delano Tournament, it went up a lot, because I got a couple of triples and I was hitting the ball pretty well," Domeier said. "It hasn't been the greatest now, but I'm starting to pick it up again. I'm looking forward to the state tournament and hopefully get some good hits in there."

Domeier is also in her first full year of varsity experience, and she says she's enjoying every chance she gets.

"It's exciting to be able to get up there and to be able to hit the ball, and to be able to score runs, and that's what we need," Domeier said.

Senior first baseman Melissa Krause is hitting .333 with 11 steals and a home run. Junior catcher Jessica Stadick hit .288 and Jenna Schugel has displayed a nice bat off the bench, hitting .286. Liz Prunty has played a solid third base for Cathedral and Chelsey Beranek also came off the bench to hit .381.

The Greyhounds have played strong defense all year and it shows with their .957 fielding percentage.

One difference from last year's team is how vocal the team is both in the dugout and on the field.

"We're trying," Domeier said. "When we were playing JWP, we were constantly banging on the fence, or like trying to get our cheering back and everything. It's a lot tougher to be loud, because none of us are really outgoing ... but we all kinda go together and we're pretty loud."

Domeier also knows that her club will be focused on the other teams, because the Greyhounds have come more prepared and know how to deal with the pressure a lot better this year.

"We know what we're looking at -- we've seen the teams, and we've read about them a lot this year," Domeier said. "Last year we didn't really expect it, but this year, we were looking at it like we really wanted to know what we wanted to do, and it wasn't as much of a surprise this year. But it's still going to be a tough couple games for us."

Cathedral (21-4) plays Mountain Iron-Buhl (17-5) at 1 p.m. Friday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.