Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral shortstop Sarah Mohr hangs on to the ball after tagging out Destiny Sybounheuan of Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey during the Greyhounds’ Section 2A playoff win Thursday at Harman Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral escaped with a 4-3 win over Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey on Thursday in quarterfinal Section 2A softball tournament action.

“It was not one of our best games. I think we were nervous. Our senior leadership on the field helped,” Cathedral co-head coach Jamie Portner said.

The Wolverines drew first blood in the top of the second inning. Margo Stoesz hit a single to center field, advanced to second on a walk and scored when Jordan Boldt got a single. It would be MLA/C’s only lead of the game.

Cathedral’s Lauryn Franta cracked a triple to the center field. She scored on an out to tie the game.

Heidi Hoffman reached on a fielder’s choice, went to second on an overthrow and later scored on a Wolverine error to give the Greyhounds the lead 2-1.

The Greyhound’s Josie Pautzke smashed a double to left field. Franta’s double to right-center scored courtesy runner Abby Furth for a 3-1 Cathedral advantage.

Hoffman belted a single that scored Franta for an all-important fourth run.

MLA/C put together a three-run rally of its own in the top of the seventh inning. The Wolverines strung together three hits for a run. The Wolverines scored two runs on an error by the Cathedral defense to close the gap to 4-3.

Pautzke was the winning pitcher. She went seven innings, gave up seven hits on three runs, walked three batters and she struck out five.

Franta was 2 for 2 with a double, a triple and one RBI while Hoffman was 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Greyhounds.

Cathedral (16-2) is the No. 2 seed. It will face either Cleveland or Nicollet at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Caswell Park in North Mankato in the semifinal round of the tournament.