File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral’s Josie Pautzke delivers a pitch in a recent softball game. Pautzke has a 1.72 ERA in 150 innings of work this season for the Greyhounds.

NEW ULM — Despite a 22-2 record heading into the state tournament, it could be said that the New Ulm Cathedral softball team hasn’t received a lot of credit this year.

The Tomahawk Conference co-champs have won 18 straight games, yet find themselves unseeded going into the state tournament. The Greyhounds begin their 17th state tournament appearance at 1 p.m. on Thursday when they play No. 3 seed Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian at Caswell Park.

The Greyhounds lass loss of the season just happened to come to Edgerton on April 29, an 8-3 victory for the Flying Dutchmen.

Despite finishing fourth in the state tournament last year, first-year head coach Jamie Portner said there wasn’t a huge target on her team’s back because there was also a youth movement after the team graduated some key players from last year.

“I don’t know that people expected a lot from us, because we lost a lot of our power hitters and we really had to rebuild,” Portner said. “We lost a lot of crucial players at defensive positions too, second base, third base, catcher. I don’t know that we ever felt pressure to perform, we just played our game every single time, worked hard and really worked on building our young players into the level they can get to be at.”

Back from last year’s state tournament team is Josie Pautzke, who has a 21-2 record on the season. She has a 1.72 ERA in 150 innings pitched, including 120 strikeouts. She also carries a .395 batting average into the tournament, including 30 hits, a team-high 27 RBIs and a home run.

“In terms of stats, this is her best year ever,” Portner said. “Strikeouts are up, walks are down, I don’t think you can ask for anything more from a pitcher, she’s really grown into her role, both as a pitcher and a leader on the team. Hitting-wise, there’s nobody I’d rather have in that box in key situations.”

Pautzke, Lauryn Franta and Heidi Hoffman are three of the team’s five seniors that have been a big reason why the Greyhounds are looking to earn their eighth state title overall.

“We really looked at Josie, Lauryn and Heidi as our starting defensive seniors and then Abby Furth coming off the bench and playing a crucial role,” Portner said. “Then we had Shay Ubl come out this year and she wasn’t out last year, she’s played a very crucial role, too. So all of our seniors stepped up and led the way and made sure that everybody knew their role and what they were supposed to be doing. That’s been a huge part of our success this year.”

Franta leads the team with four home runs, but she came up big in the Section 2A tournament with two home runs that led the way to a win, including a game-winning home run against Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s.

“She struggled a lot the first half of the season, just not seeing the ball and just not doing the mechanics right, she just kept at it all year and she knew that if we were going to get to state that she had to keep performing and so she worked hard all year to get to where she’s at right now,” Portner said. “She should be very proud of herself right now, I know we as coaches are.”

Sophomore shortstop Sarah Mohr has has been setting the table at the top of the order for the Greyhounds. She carries a .405 batting average into the tournament. Abby Beranek leads the Greyhounds with a .478 average with 17 RBIs. Hoffman is hitting .436 with 18 RBIs and freshman catcher Emily Schommer is hitting .403 with 21 RBIs and a home run. Ubl is hitting .348, Megan Haala is hitting .382 and Lily Franta is hitting .318.

While there’s some inexperience on the team, it doesn’t seem to matter. The team has played well together and that’s the thing Portner is most proud of.

“This team has great chemistry,” she said. “In past years, they can be a little bit cliquey where five of them get along and then five other ones get along. I don’t see that with this team this year. They just have great chemistry, they get along with one another and they’ll do whatever it takes to help their teammates and help their team win.”