Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral's Jenna Hotovec (left) fields a fly ball while Sydnee Helget (right) backs her up in a nonconference softball game against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial at Caswell Park in Mankato.

NORTH MANKATO — With a runner on third in the first inning, New Ulm Cathedral’s Megan Haala drove a pitch into left-center field, getting a double to bring home Kiah Helget to score her team’s first run.

The rest of the nonconference softball game against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial at Caswell Park remained scoreless as the Greyhounds won 1-0.

“We knew seeding was done this morning,” Cathedral head coach Jamie Kuehn said. “So we knew this game didn’t have a lot of weight for that, and I think that took a lot of pressure off of us and let us play our very best defensive game that I think we’ve played all year.”

Haala was also the winning pitcher, getting four strikeouts and allowing only one hit in a complete game.

“I just focused on each batter and what they need,” Haala said. “So if they hit an inside pitch, I try not to throw it inside again. I just try to hit my spots as much as I can.”

At the plate for Cathedral, Kiah Helget was 2 for 3 with a stolen base and a run scored, while Haala was 2 for 3 with two doubles and an RBI.

Avery Voges was the losing pitcher for the Knights, getting six strikeouts and allowing five hits in seven innings.

Cathedral finishes its regular season with a 12-5 record and 9-3 in the Tomahawk Conference, good for second place. Heading into the playoffs, having a defensive performance like this gives the team confidence in how far it can go.

“If we keep playing how we did today, I think we’re going to go far,” Haala said. “Our bats need a little more work, but I think that will come.”

Kuehn says the team is going to take it one game at a time and try to make a deep run in the postseason.

“Hopefully we carry this energy and this confidence into our next game,” she said. “We’re not going to overlook anybody and we’re going to bring our ‘A’ game to every single pitch that we see and every single ball that we have to play.”

The Greyhounds received a first-round bye in the Section 2A playoffs, which starts Tuesday, and will play their first playoff game on Thursday at Harman Park in New Ulm.