The very next inning, freshman Ashlyn Hillesheim did the same, with her first career varsity hit landing beyond the left-field fence as the Greyhounds went on to win 16-6 in six innings.

“I was just looking for a decent one,” Wilfahrt said. “I know I should have swung at the first one because it was right down the middle, but I didn’t. So I was like, ‘I’ve got two strikes on me, I’ve got to swing at this one.’ And sure enough, it was right there.”

Ashlyn Hillehseim, likewise, was just looking to make solid contact.

“Usually I’m a bunter, and usually that’s my job,” Ashlyn Hillesheim said. “But I got up there, was just looking for an on-base hit, looking to get on base and score.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Ashlyn Hillesheim rounds third base after hitting a home run during a Tomahawk Division softball game against Lester Prairie Thursday at Harmon Park.

Ashlyn Hillesheim’s two-run homer put the Greyhounds up 10-6, and Cathedral put together a six-run sixth inning, with Ava Brennan’s single driving in two runs to end the game due to the 10-run rule.

Wilfahrt was 2 for 3 in the game with four RBIs, while Hillesheim was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Also at the plate for Cathedral, Margo Finstad was 3 for 3 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored, while Brennan was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Jaylin Hartness was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. The game represented a return to form for the Cathedral offense, getting the scoring going after dropping the first two games of the season with a combined four runs.

“We’ve done a lot of hitting in practice. Like, a lot,” Wilfahrt said. “So we’ve been working a lot on that. We know our defense is good for now, and we just need to work on our offense, and we got it done today.

Ashlyn Hillesheim added the team brought a different mentality into the game.

“Just our intensity was much higher,” she said. “And we kept up the pace and didn’t step off the gas.”

Abbey Hillesheim picked up the win the in the circle for Cathedral, striking out five while allowing six runs on 10 hits.

Lester Prairie started the scoring in the first, pushing two across the plate, but Cathedral struck back with Brennan reaching first after being hit by a pitch, then bunted over to second by Ashlyn Hillesheim.

Brennan took advantage of an uncovered base on the play to advance to third, then scored after the throw over to third hit the fence to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Cathedral defense held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second and came out with two runs during the inning, with a bunt by Wilfahrt scoring Finstad, then Madelyn Haala followed after the throw to home came off target. Lester Prairie retook a 4-3 lead in the third, scoring two runs on three hits, but the Greyhounds put together a five-run third inning, starting with RBI hits by Hartness, Finstad and Haala and ending with Wilfahrt’s homer to go up 8-4.

While Lester Prairie scored twice more on three hits in the fourth inning, a leadoff single by Brennan and Ashlyn Hillesheim’s home run meant Cathedral maintained a 10-6 lead.

Abbey Hillesheim and the Greyhounds defense put together two scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, after which Cathedral sent nine batters to the plate and brought six around to score to end the game 16-6 in the sixth inning.

Cathedral (1-2, 1-1) hopes to keep the bats hot Friday as it hosts BOLD.