NATCHEZ — Last week’s games against St. Aloysius might have felt like the state finals, but instead of getting a trophy, all the Cathedral Green Wave got was the satisfaction of beating their rivals and the Division 7-1A championship.

Cathedral still has seven regular season games to play, plus several playoff games, where the Green Wave might see the Flashes again.

And one of the challenges coach Craig Beesley faces is getting the team’s focus back for the stretch run, which begins tonight when the Green Wave host Franklin County in a non-division game at 7 p.m. at Chester Willis Field.

“That’s the biggest thing we’ve talked about,” Beesley said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t have a letdown mentally after that big series win.

“We’ve got a tough week with Franklin County. They are a good team. We’ve got to come out mentally ready to play (today) and Friday.”

Cathedral (12-2, 4-0) did clinch the division championship with last week’s victories over St. Al, but the Green Wave still have two more division games to play next week against West Lincoln.

“I’d like to be able to play all our district games in a row,” Beesley said. “But that’s the way the schedule worked out. But we have achieved our first goal, which was to win the district.”

Cathedral got off to a bit of a slow start to the season, losing early games to Adams County Christian and Vidalia, and Beesley missed several weeks after being stricken with a severe case of pneumonia.

But everything came together last week for Cathedral, as the Green Wave defeated the Flashes 11-5 on Tuesday and 12-0 on Friday.

“It definitely meant a lot for us to beat the No. 1 team in the state and defending state champions,” Beesley said. “We know how good St. Al is, and we know if we match up with them again in the playoffs, it’s going to be a tough battle. We will have to play our best if we do see them again.”

The Wave certainly did play their best last week thanks to a pep talk after a lackluster win against Bogue Chitto on March 25.

“We talked after the Bogue Chitto game that we felt like mentally we didn’t play our best baseball,” Beesley said. “I challenged the seniors after the game that night and they met the challenge last week. We played at the level we’re capable of. Now we have to keep that going.”