File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral’s Rose Hazuka has been a leader for the Greyhounds this year, who are making their first Class A state tournament trip since 2014.

NEW ULM — All season long, New Ulm Cathedral was the team that was supposed to battle defending Section 2A champion Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s for the Tomahawk Conference and section titles. But the Greyhounds weren’t supposed to be the team that advanced to the state tournament.

While the Knights had nearly everyone coming back from last year’s third-place state tournament squad, the Greyhounds had some experience back but a lot of youth also.

In the end, Cathedral eventually emerged as the Section 2A champion, the first time the school qualified since 2014. None of the current players on the roster have played in a state tournament, so this week will be something new. But it never seems to matter with a team coached by Bob Mertz, who earned his 800th career victory last week.

The Greyhounds (19-2) are making their 16th state tournament appearance, beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday when they play Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (19-7). They are seeded No. 3 in the tournament, behind No. 1 New York Mills (24-1) and No. 2 Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian (18-3).

The Greyhounds have four seniors on the roster, led by four-year starting catcher Rose Hazuka. Jenna Helget, Aleah Guggisberg and Brooke Landreville are also playing their final week of softball for the Greyhounds, a team that has exceeded some expectations with plenty of new faces in new places.

“I think this team has surprised us all season,” said co-coach Jamie Portner, who is making her fourth state tournament as a co-coach. “Last week the girls asked us if we ever thought we’d be in the state tournament coming into the season and we honestly answered no. But they’ve continued to step up and rise to the occasion and it was probably the Windom tournament [where the team took off] for us.”

The offense is led by Hazuka, who is hitting .476. She has four home runs, which is second on the team and she leads the team with 30 hits. She worked on some basics during the offseason to get better offensively and the results are showing this year.

“I think it was just a lot of fundamental stuff,” Hazuka said. “I think it was just a mental thing for me last year, it was harder to work on things during the offseason because I also play volleyball and basketball, but it was just mental game. I knew that this was my last shot and I thought, ‘I might as well go get it now.'”

While her offense has been getting plenty of attention this year, her defense and knowledge of the game is even more important since she’s thrown out 75 percent of would-be base stealers.

“She calls a great game back there, her and Josie [Pautzke, junior pitcher] have worked on their relationship and she’s worked really hard to be a leader on this team and improve her hitting,” Portner said.

Pitcher Josie Pautzke is 17-1 on the year for the Greyhounds with a 1.81 ERA. She has 88 strikeouts in 81 innings. Heidi Hoffman has also pitched, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA.

The Gators are making their eighth state tournament appearance and they are led by Makenna Burslie offensively. Burslie is hitting .493 with 17 RBIs. Carly Mekash is 8-5 with a 4.55 ERA and she’s hitting .413 with 41 RBIs.

Pautzke will be in charge of keeping the Gators from getting on the bases. Hazuka said that Pautzke has pitched well as of late for the team.

“I’m super excited for her, I think we’ve played together a lot better than we were at the beginning of the year,” Hazuka said. “She’s hitting her spots and her speed has increased.”

Helget, the team’s second baseman, isn’t too worried about being nervous.

“I think Caswell will be fine, but since it is our first state experience, we’re going to be nervous at first,” Helget said. “I think once we get there, we’ll be fine. Just realizing that it’s state and just give it our all and not hold back.”

Hazuka wraps up her fourth year of varsity in a place she’s aways wanted to play — the state tournament.

“I think softball in general, it’s always been one of my favorite sports, if my favorite,” Hazuka said. “It’s been a long four years but I’m so glad I can end on this note.”

Notes: New York Mills is the defending Class A state champion and its the fourth straight trip to the tournament for the team… Edgerton/SW Minnesota Christian won the tournament in 2016 and took second in 2017… Badger/Greenbush-Middle River, Cathedral’s first-round opponent, has had plenty of success in the state tournament recently. The program was the Class A runner-up in 2015 and 2016… New Ulm Cathedral has won seven state titles and is looking for No. 8 under co-coach Bob Mertz, who has 801 career wins going into the tournament.