Photo courtesy of Don Borstad New Ulm Cathedral players gather around home play to celebrate Ava Schmid’s homer during a Section 2A softball playoff game with Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther on Wednesday at Harman Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Top-seeded New Ulm Cathedral hit its way past No. 16-seeded Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 16-0 in four innings on Wednesday in the first round of the Section 2A Softball Tournament at Harman Park.

It was a combination of sound hitting, solid defense and excellent pitching that contributed to the Greyhounds’ big victory. That hitting included three two-run home runs and three homers total.

Ava Brennan got a leadoff double to left field in the bottom of the first inning. Ava Schmid hit a single to right field which scored Brennan. Schmid scored on a wild pitch and it was 2-0 Cathedral. Kiah Helget added a center-field double and scored on a sacrifice. Jaylin Hartness beat out an infield single. Shay Wilfahrt came in as a courtesy runner and scored on Alexa Hornick’s double. Madelyn Haala crushed the ball over the left-field fence for Cathedral’s first two-run homer and it was 6-0 after one inning.

Kiah Helget got a double in the bottom of the second. Jenna Helget then hit the ball over the fence in left-center field which brought Helget home for an 8-0 Cathedral advantage.

The Greyhounds sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third.

Margo Finstad singled and scored later on Abbey Hillesheim’s double. Hillesheim scored on a single by Brennan for a 10-0 score. Schmid knocked the ball over the fence in center field which brought Brennan home and a 12-0 score.

Helget continued the inning with a double and scored on Hotovec’s double which made it 13-0. Hotovec scored on a hit by Hartness. A sacrifice scored Hartness. Ava Krueger’s hustle earned her an infield single before Wilfahrt’s right-field triple brought in Krueger for Cathedral’s 16th run.

The Jaguars threw two scares into the Greyhounds.

In the top of the first inning, it had a leadoff single Mariel Parrish. Tisa Rosales-Wegner reached on a fielder’s choice. The Greyhounds shut down the threat with good pitching and defense. They also put together another threat in the top of the fourth inning. Ashley Cook and Ava Rathman reached on back-to-back infield hits, Hillesheim got two Jaguar hitters to pop out. Lili Wiens reached on another infield single which loaded the bases. Hillesheim got Ava Jordan to hit into a groundout to end the inning and the contest.

“We hit the ball well, and we put it in the gaps,” Cathedral head coach Jamie Kuehn said.

She credited pitcher Abbey Hillesheim with doing her job and putting the ball into play, which is something they have been doing all season long.

“We made use of our offense, we made the most of the opportunities that were given to us and we minimized our errors,” Kuehn said.

Helget went 3 for 3 with three doubles. Hotovec went 2 for 3 with a double, a home run and four RBIs. Schmidt went 2 for 3 with one home run and three RBIs. Madelyn Haala added a home run and two RBIs.

Hillesheim was the winning pitcher. She pitched four innings, gave up no runs on four hits and she had two strikeouts.

Addison Smith took the loss for the Jaguars. She gave up 16 runs on 15 hits with two walks and one strikeout. Ashlyn Cook, Mariel Parrish, Ava Rathman and Lil Wiens each earned one hit for GHEC.

Cathedral hosts Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove in the next round of playoffs Thursday.