Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Jayde Altermatt trots home after a home run during a Tomahawk Division softball game against Wabasso Tuesday at Harman Park.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral’s Jayde Altermatt didn’t just get the win in the circle during a 9-0 victory over Wabasso on Tuesday.

She also collected her first career home run in the second inning, helping to solidify an early lead to give the Greyhounds their ninth consecutive victory.

“It felt kind of unbelievable,” Altermatt said of her homer. “It felt like it didn’t happen. I was timing up the pitcher, and she had pretty good speed. I was seeing where her locations were, and it went right down the middle, so I just hit that one.”

Altermatt struck out 12 batters in the complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and one walk. Altermatt struck out the side once in the second inning and didn’t allow batters on in three others, shutting down the Wabasso offense.

“My best pitch today was my fastball,” Altermatt said. “And I think it was best because it curved out to the outside.”

Of the 12 strikeouts, seven were swinging and five were looking. Altermatt said a varied approach for each batter was the key to success in the game.

“I changes speeds on my fastball for different batters,” Altermatt said. “So I think that helped me a lot.”

The win for Cathedral redeemed an early-season loss to the Rabbits, who won the first matchup 3-2 in Wabasso. Cathedral had much more success offensively in Tuesdays game, with all nine of the starters in the lineup reaching base in the game.

At the plate for Cathedral, Jaylin Hartness also had a home run with two RBIs, while Ashlynn Hillesheim was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Abbey Hillesheim was 2 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored, while Brynne Wilfahrt was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Margo Finstad was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Aylah Jenniges took the loss for Wabasso, striking out six while allowing eight earned runs on 12 hits and two walks. At the plate, Camryn Irlbeck had a double, while Jenniges and Sara Carlson each had a hit.

After a scoreless first inning, Cathedral started the second inning with five consecutive hits, as singles from Finstad and Madelyn Haala were followed with RBI singles from Abbey Hillesheim and Wilfahrt. Altermatt then cleared the bases with her three-run homer that flew over the left field fence to make it a 5-0 game.

Hartness started off the third inning with a solo home run of her own to nearly the same spot. Wabasso got its first hit of the game in the fourth inning as Jenniges’ hit landed in shallow left, then Carlson had a single of her own, but two strikeouts from Altermatt ended the inning without further damage.

In the bottom of the inning, a leadoff hit from Ava Brennan and a double from Ashlynn Hilleshiem helped Ava Schmid collect an RBI on an error, then an RBI for Hartness with a sacrifice fly, then an RBI for Finstad on a groundout to increase the lead to 9-0.

Cathedral had an opportunity to end the game early in both the fifth and sixth innings, with Wilfahrt reaching third with two outs in the fifth and Finstad doing the same in the sixth, but a strikeout from Jenniges in the fifth and a popup to second base in the sixth ended those hopes. However, Altermatt and the Cathedral defense stayed strong. Schmid made a throw from center field to second base for the final out as a tag was applied on an overzealous Irlbeck, who had doubled but over ran second base by just a few feet.

Cathedral (9-2, 7-1) travels to Lester Prairie on Thursday, while Wabasso (7-3, 5-3) hosts Sleepy Eye on Thursday.