However, within one week of each other in 2005, New Ulm Cathedral was on top of the mountain for both softball and baseball as the school celebrated state championships in both sports. Softball coach Bob Mertz celebrated his fifth of seven titles and baseball coach Bob Weier earned his first championship.

It was a time where both programs rallied around each other. The softball players and baseball players were in full attendance when they were able to support each other and the crowds were always Cathedral heavy.

Both teams were coming off of successful seasons the year before. The softball team placed third in 2004 and hopes were high once again. The baseball team, meanwhile, was senior-heavy and this was supposed to be their year.

“It’s always fun to talk to the coaches, especially if you think that the team is going to be really solid and have a chance to accomplish some fantastic things,” longtime Cathedral Athletic Director John Vetter said. “We certainly were in a position that year, but sometimes when people would get excited, I would say that the other teams are trying to win too. It rarely is easy, and it was a very unique thing to be able to win those two championships literally back to back.”

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Members of the Cathedral softball team celebrate their Class A State Championship after defeating St. Bernard's 6-3 Saturday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

The baseball team finished the year 24-2, both losses coming to rival and defending state champion Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s. Weier tried to keep his team from thinking about the pressures of playing in a state tournament since it was their first time there. The Greyhounds had been the No. 1 team all season, it was just a matter of getting it done on the field.

“What was going through my mind was try not to even dwell on it, don’t put on any more pressure on what we wanted to do,” Weier said. “In the previous years, we never even got to Saturday [of the Section 2A playoffs] undefeated, we always had that one loss going into Saturday’s play. The only thing I did, after we won the section championship, coach [Randy] Clyne and I talked about their ability and we had been ranked No.1 in the state since back in March. We retained that No. 1 ranking, and now we just had to believe that we are the best team in Minnesota and the other teams are all concerned about your ability to play this game.”

Weier there was never really talk about winning it all amongst the players and coaches.

“There was not much conversation about winning the state championship or getting to the tournament, the kids all understood that if we were going to do something, this had to be the year,” Weier said. “The conversation really didn’t championship really didn’t change much until that last championship series against Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s [in the Section 2A championship] on that Thursday. After practice, a couple of the kids mentioned that we just have to win.”

While the baseball team was one of the pre-season favorites to win the state title, the softball team was more of a work in progress to start the season.

There was a new starting pitcher in Katie Stueber, who took over after Julie Seifert graduated in 2004. Seifert pitched the Greyhounds to a title in 2003 and a third-place finish in 2004 and Stueber took over the role. She didn’t disappoint, going 20-2 on the season.

And while Stueber was making a name for herself in the pitcher’s circle, a younger group of players were making names for themselves, as well.

Sophomore Kirsten Prunty took over the shortstop role from Nikki Fischer and handled it well. She hit around .400 for the season and showed good range at the position. Sophomore first baseman Sally Schreiber also had a big year, hitting close to .400. But the biggest surprise came from a pair of eighth-graders who got called up to the varsity roster that year.

Kaitlin DuChene, who played third base that year, and Katie Larson, who started at second base, were instantly starters and impact players.

“I remember as the season went on, these two young girls, Katie Larson and Kaitlin DuChene, they were eighth-graders and my two assistant coaches said that we really should look at them,” Mertz said. “So we spent two weeks looking at them in the gym and we said ‘we’ve really got to keep them.'”

So after talking to his three seniors to get their approval, Mertz decided to bring up Larson and DuChene and the plan worked just fine.

“The best thing to happen to Larson and DuChene that season was having the seniors supporting them, they were all softball that season,” Mertz said.

The Greyhounds surprised even Mertz at times during the title run for his fifth title. Not to be outdone, the boys took care of business too, capping a memorable spring season.

“That was one of the things that I really was impressed with at Cathedral,” Vetter said. “We weren’t in a position where we were trying to out-do each other, they were trying to be supportive of each other.”

Softball

The softball team had a lot of new faces in new places. Cathedral won Mertz his fifth state title thanks to the pitching of Stueber, who pitched a no-hitter in a 10-0 victory over Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals against Elgin-Millville, Stueber shined again when she pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, then blasted a home run to give her team a 4-2 lead. The Greyhounds hung on to win 4-3, setting up another state tournament battle with St. Bernard’s.

The win over Elgin-Millville was considered an upset at the time.

“They were rated No. 1 all year, and they had four girls on that team that were going Division I in basketball,” Mertz said. “We got them in the second game and we got up 2-0 on them and then, uncharacteristic of Katie [Stueber], she gave up a number of walks and she was really frustrated, but the next inning she came back and hit a two-run home run and we hung on to beat them and that really was a big game.”

In that championship game, the Greyhounds ran into St. Bernards, a Class A power at the time. St. Bernards defeated Cathedral in the semifinals in 2004, so the Greyhounds had revenge on their minds, and they got it.

In that title game, Mandy Domeier went 2 for 2 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. She doubled in the top of the second inning and later scored and Prunty also scored on a single from Schreiber to give the Greyhounds a 2-0 lead.

After Stueber scored Cathedral’s third run of the game, St. Bernards tied the game in the bottom of the fifth to put pressure on the Greyhounds.

But in the sixth, DuChene and Jessica Stadick singled and DuChene eventually scored on an error. The Greyhounds added two more runs to finish the season 25-2.

The Greyhounds went through the Tomahawk Conference portion of the season with little problem and they also went through the Section 2A tournament unbeaten. It was a mid-season tournament that saw them lose twice that got them back on track, however.

“We were undefeated in the conference, we went up to the Delano tournament that year and we got spanked,” Mertz said. “Hermantown, they took AA [Hermantown won the Class AA title that year], they beat us 8-0 [in Delano] and then St. Paul Academy beat us, so we got kind of a wakeup call there.”

Baseball

The Greyhounds (24-2 for the season) won the Section 2A title after defeating perennial section power Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 5-1 in the second if-necessary game to advance to the state tournament for the first time in 32 years. Jeff Schnobrich’s diving catch in center field off the bat of current Cathedral boys’ basketball and baseball coach Alan Woitas kept that second game tied at 1-1.

“I remember when the ball was hit, Alan Woitas hit it to an area that I wasn’t too keen on,” Weier said. “I just focused on Jeff Schnobrich and wondered is he going to catch it. I really didn’t have any idea until I saw the ball hit his glove and I said ‘wow, wow’. Our prayers were answered.”

The Greyhounds scored four more times to put the game out of reach and earn the win for Gary Wilfahrt Jr.

The Greyhounds had been ranked No. 1 all season, but St. Mary’s was the section powerhouse at the time, having won state titles in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

“It was a difficult playoff situation…. we knew going in that if we could just get to the state tournament, we probably would have a pretty good shot at winning it all,” Weier said.

In the state tournament, the Greyhounds opened with a 6-0 victory over Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals. There, Sabatino earned the victory was once again helped by a couple of highlight reel catches from Schnobrich. Schnobrich robbed a home run and then made a diving catch to preserve a no-hitter at the time.

In the second game, the Greyhounds defeated St. Agnes 5-0 in the semifinals behind the arm of Wilfahrt.

The pitching for the Greyhounds was dominant throughout the tournament. That carried over to the championship game the next day, where the Greyhounds defeated Rushford-Peterson 11-2 to win their first-ever state title.

There, the Greyhounds led 4-2 in the third inning when Weier decided to attempt a suicide squeeze. With Dan Drexler at the plate and runners on second and third, Drexler put down a perfectly-placed bunt, allowing Scott Knisley to score from third. Drexler beat the throw to first and Ryan Turbes also scored on the play from second, giving the Greyhounds a 6-2 lead.

Sabatino earned the win after giving up a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. He regained his composure after that and was virtually unhittable, allowing four hits and two unearned runs.

The first-ever state championship for Cathedral and Weier meant a lot to everyone involved. The community rallied around the Greyhounds and Weier said it meant a lot to see fans from the other schools in town at the games.

“I think after that, the thing that really was heartwarming was the number of cards I received from who I would refer to as the non-Cathedral people, they were our fans and our supporters,” Weier said. “That was quite heartwarming to them, that it was important to them to send that card and wish us well.”

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