NATCHEZ — As much as Sebastopol High School made contact against Cathedral High School pitcher Mollie Devening Thursday, the Lady Green Wave defense needed a strong outing.

One no-hitter later, Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said his defense was almost flawless.

The Lady Green Wave committed just one error as Devening gave up just one walk in seven innings. The Cathedral offense, meanwhile, gave her plenty of run support in an 8-0 win in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 1A South State Semifinals.

“Her rollover was really working for her,” Blackwell said of Devening’s outing. “They had a lot of ground balls, and we were making the plays.

“Our defense played really good. She’s been pitching a good while, and she works really hard at it. She was in the zone tonight — they all were. They were really focused, and they had a good attitude.”

Cathedral went scoreless in its first two innings before exploding for five runs in the third inning. The Lady Green Wave added three more runs in the sixth.

“We were able to get some bunts down and get on base, and we got some good key hits after we got them on base,” Blackwell said.

“We started off slow, but this team’s attitude has been great all year. They knew they’d be able to get it done. It took a little while, but they got the bats rolling and got some runs.”

Mackenzie Milligan went 3-for-4 for Cathedral, while Beth Fortenbery was 2-for-4 with a triple. Devening went 3-for-4, Payton Monticello finished 2-for-4 and Kimble Devening was 2-for-5.

With a Game 1 win, Cathedral returns home Saturday to host Game 2 at 1 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will immediately follow.

“Being at home without our backs against the wall is a big relief,” Blackwell said. “That’s what happened to us last year. We wanted to make sure we took care of business this year.”

Although Blackwell said he has confidence his players can go deep into the playoffs, he said his team isn’t looking ahead.

“We’re taking it game-by-game,” Blackwell said. “If we keep playing like we’re playing, we could go all the way, but we don’t think about it or talk about it.”