Sometimes they have to battle through hardships and turmoil to win a title game.

In the case of the New Ulm Cathedral softball team, a little of both may be true.

But in the end, Cathedral gets to hang another banner in its gym as the top-seeded Greyhounds beat Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 10-4 Friday in the Class A State Softball Tournament Championship.

“This team just had resiliency all year long,” head coach Jamie Kuehn said. “Even when we were down 2-0, none of us were really worried. We knew we had to dig deep and come back, but we’ve been doing that all tournament, so that’s nothing new for us. Really we’ve been digging deep all year, from losing our starting pitcher, to having to find Abbey [Hillesheim] and Jayde [Altermatt], really working on our bats to step up this year because they were down last year. This team is just resilient and bounces back and refuses to quit.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Abbey Hillesheim runs to home plate smiling after her home run in the Class A State Softball Tournament Championship game against Clinton-Graceville-Beardsly on Friday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

Though the Greyhounds soared through the state tournament, winning their games by an average of 5 runs, they couldn’t have gotten this far without the emergence of Hillesheim, a sophomore, and Altermatt, a seventh-grader. The two took over pitching responsibilities after a shoulder injury meant that expected pitcher Madelyn Haala wouldn’t be able to take the circle this season.

Not only did the two rise to the challenge, they excelled in it, with both being named to the All-Tournament team. Hillesheim contributed mainly from the plate, hitting two home runs in the tournament, including a three-run homer in the title game. Altermatt, meanwhile, got all three wins in the circle for Cathedral during its run, getting four strikeouts while allowing four earned runs on five hits and four walks against CGB.

Altermatt didn’t even think she would be on the varsity squad at the beginning of the season.

“I thought I was going to pitch junior high,” she said. “But I kept working harder and harder, and they moved me up, and I’m really happy they did.”

The Cathedral coaching staff must be really happy it did, too, as Altermatt became an integral part of its title run.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Jenna Hotovec leads off from third during the Class A State Softball Tournament Championship game against Clinton-Graceville-Beardsly on Friday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

“It means the world,” Altermatt said. “I can’t believe that we did this. I knew my team would pull through though, and we can do this for the seniors and all the girls that have worked their hardest and push through injuries and everything throughout the season.”

Altermatt said the award came as a surprise to her.

“It feels good,” she said. “I’m so glad that I worked all season with this. I have to give a lot of credit to Jaylin [Hartness, the catcher]. She helped me with my pitches, she’s helped me with framing and learning to keep my composure during the game.”

That composure has been something that has stuck out to Altermatt’s teammates and coaches in her first season on varsity, as she always rose when the moment called for it.

“I love her,” Alexa Hornick, who was also chosen for the All-Tournament team as the Greyhounds’ second baseman, said. “Coming into the season, we faced obstacles and adversity that we were not expecting to face, and there was a lot of pressure put on her this season because of that adversity. So seeing her just keep her emotions in check, keep her strong mentality the whole time, as a seventh-grader, I would not have been able to do it. I have so much respect and appreciation for the way she plays the game. She knows the game as a seventh grader. She’s completely prepared, she knows what she’s doing out there. I couldn’t be more proud of her, and being in those high-pressure situations, I admire her for her mental strength and everything like that. She’s remarkable. I can’t even say it. She’s going to go places and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Altermatt said that a lot of her mental fortitude comes with confidence in her teammates and defense to help her out.

“I knew I could do it, and I knew my defense was behind me,” she said. “I knew that all I needed to do was calm down and we could do it.”

Hornick, along with shortstop Kiah Helget and center fielder Jenna Hotovec, get to finish their prep careers as state champions as they wrap up their senior seasons.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Hotovec said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s over yet, and it doesn’t feel like we won a state championship.”

Helget expressed a similar sentiment.

“Honestly, I’m speechless,” she said. “It’s really awesome. I didn’t expect it, but we definitely earned it. I think it was the best way I could have gone out on my high school career, and it makes me so grateful for this whole team and this school and this community … I think it’s just really special to have my team and my name up there along with my team. This team is really special. We have great chemistry.”

Hornick also spoke about the bond that this team had through the season, saying it was born from going to a smaller school where everyone is friends outside of the field.

“I think, coming from such a small school, we have an unmatched team chemistry,” she said. “I think that we know each other so well, we know how to pick each other up. We’re all talented in our own right, we have the softball skills and the IQ, and when we’re all together it just meshes and it works. I’ve never been a part of a team that works together more than this team. It’s remarkable. There’s no words for it. It’s just a natural sense of team.”

Hornick said winning the title in her final season was a culmination of all the hard work that she and the rest of the team had put into the game.

“I’m so honored,” she said. “This is what we’ve been working for all season, and what I’ve been working for the past four years. I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates. Every single one of them deserves the credit for all this. It wasn’t one person at one time, it was all of us, always. I’m honored to hang a banner in the gym. That feels so good. I’m more than happy and honored to be a part of this team and this program and this legacy. Just doing our part.”

That program can now claim its eighth state title in its 19th state tournament appearance, going back to its first championship in 1993. Both are records for Class A softball as Cathedral breaks the tie with St. Bernard’s, St. Paul, for most championships.

Overall for the game, Hotovec was 4 for 5 with a run scored, while Ava Brennan was 3 for 5 with a run scored. Hornick was 2 for 5 with three RBIs, and Hillesheim was 1 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Ava Schmid was 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Hartness was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The Greyhounds quickly found themselves in a hole early, with CGB pushing across two runs on two errors and a hit in the first inning. However, Cathedral quickly responded with a four-run inning in the second. Hillesheim was the driving force in the inning, sending a ball over the center-field fence for a three-run homer.

Those four runs were added two in the fourth inning, as Cathedral sent nine to the plate and brought five home to make it a 9-2 game. Hillesheim led off the inning with a walk, then a single by Brennan put runners at the corners and set up Schmid for a two-RBI single. Helget walked and Hotovec singled to load the bases, allowing a single by Hornick to bring all three runners home.

Cathedral added an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single by Hartness, meaning CGB had three outs to score eight runs in the bottom of the seventh. While they did manage to push two runs across, the deficit proved to be two great as Greyhounds mobbed Altermatt as she struck out the final batter.