Faber, an eighth-grader who bats ninth for the Mavericks, hit her homer in the third inning and was one of just two MCW players to earn a hit in the game, with Courtney Anderson being the other with a single in the second.

MCW pitcher Maddie Carlson and the Mavericks defense held Cathedral to just four hits after allowing one hit in the teams’ previous section tournament game on Saturday, where MCW sent Cathedral to the elimination bracket with a 3-0 win.

“They have a nice pitcher,” Cathedral head coach Jamie Kuehn said. “She changes speeds, changes locations. We had runners in positions, we just couldn’t get the hit we needed.”

Abbey Hillesheim took the loss for Cathedral, allowing one run on two hits in three innings while striking out three. Jayde Altermatt pitched four hitless innings, striking out seven.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Ava Schmid takes a lead off of second base during a Section 2A Softball Tournament game against Martin County West Tuesday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

At the plate for the Greyhounds, Ava Schmid had two doubles, while Ava Brennan had a double and Margo Finstad had a single.

The Mavericks played strong defense throughout, keeping the Greyhounds off the bases. When Cathedral did get a runner on, MCW came up clutch with several key plays.

One such key play was in the sixth inning as Schmid made it all the way to third base with just one out on the board. As a grounder was put into play to MCW’s Courtney Anderson at third base, she faked the throw over to first to catch Schmid between bases and the Mavericks were able to chase her down for an out to prevent a run.

Earlier in the day, Cathedral defeated Sleepy Eye 6-1 to advance to the elimination finals. The Greyhounds trailed 1-0 after Sleepy Eye got its run in the first inning on an RBI single from Callie Evers. The next three innings were scoreless for both teams before Cathedral put four runs on the board in the fifth.

In that fifth, Abbey Hillesheim got a sac fly to tie the game and Altermatt put her team up 4-1 with a three-run homer. Madelyn Haala had a sac bunt to score a run in the sixth before Abbey Hillesheim had an RBI single into right to make it 6-1.

Ava Brennan was 2 for 3 to lead Cathedral at the plate in the win over Sleepy Eye, which was led by Evers’ 2-for-3 game. Taylor Berkner took the loss for Sleepy Eye in seven innings, allowing seven hits and a walk for five earned runs while striking out six.

Altermatt got the pitching win over the Indians, allowing three hits and two walks for one unearned run while fanning 13.

Cathedral finishes its season with a 22-4 record in a season where it recorded 20 consecutive wins.

“We had a lot of determination,” Kuehn said. “We didn’t start off well, we didn’t play well in sections on Saturday. To come back and go on that win streak and come back and win one Saturday and one tonight, there’s absolutely nothing we have to hang our heads about. We should be proud about what we were able to put together as a team and overcome.”