NATCHEZ &045; Cathedral never bunts. And for good reason.

The Green Wave hasn’t had problems scoring runs since late February, and there really hasn’t been a need for sacrifice bunts here lately &045; particularly in the playoffs. But head coach Craig Beesley had a feeling those things would come into play, and two key bunts got insurance runs home Monday in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 1A championship.

It was good enough against Houlka pitcher Chris Huggins, who tossed a three-hitter against the Green Wave but lost, 5-1.

&uot;We probably bunted more tonight than we did all year,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;(Huggins) did a good job, and we didn’t look comfortable at the plate. So we had to take what they’d give us. Once the playoffs started, we’ve been working on that a lot. You’re going to have tight games in the playoffs, and I was glad to see them execute.&uot;

The smallball couldn’t have been any bigger in a game in these rainy conditions. The Wildcats tried to get a couple bunts down in key situations but were unsuccessful, and the Green Wave executed.

The biggest came in the fifth with Andrew Ellard at the plate and pinch-runner Nick Anderson sitting on second with no outs. Ellard’s bunt moved like a dead fish on the soft ground in front of the plate, and Houlka catcher Kyle Meyers threw it into right field to score Anderson for a 3-1 lead.

&uot;With that mud, the weather kind of helped,&uot; Ellard said. &uot;It surprised me we didn’t hit (Huggins). The small game worked tonight, that’s for sure. We had to manufacture runs toward the end there. That’s what coach told us &045; we were going to manufacture runs.&uot;

The error came a half inning after the Wildcats struggled to put up a run on Cathedral starter Te Riley and had just one hit.

So after the run cut the lead in half at 2-1, the error to score the run was a momentum-turner. Then Garrett Jones laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Ellard to third and Michael Blain to second, and Ellard then scored on a wild pitch for a 4-1 lead.

&uot;I thought Chris threw a great game for us,&uot; Houlka head coach Jimbo Byars said. &uot;We threw a couple of balls away. I thought he had trouble with the wet mound. That (Ellard) bunt was big. They were up there trying to sac(rifice) the runner over, and we threw the ball into right field. That leads to a big inning.

&uot;If we would have gotten the bunt down &045; we tried a couple times in the fourth and fifth innings. If we get them down and make them make a play, you never know what’s going to happen.&uot;

But give credit to the Wildcats in the sixth when the Green Wave almost broke the game open. Wyler Murray reached on an error and went to second on a Charlie Lane walk before Preston Hicks hit a bloop single to shallow right field.

But second baseman Brett Hood picked it up and fired home to get Murray at the plate for the first out of the inning.

A walk to Drew Burns loaded the bases, and Ellard’s ground ball to second forced out pinch-runner Anderson at second but was good to score Lane for the 5-1 lead.

&uot;(Huggins) is a ground-ball pitcher,&uot; Byars said. &uot;He got a lot of ground balls, and I think we threw two of them away. He struggled a little bit with his control. He’s got good movement on his fastball, and it’s hard to put the ball in the air off him.&uot;

It still left Beesley kind of disappointed in his lineup with only three hits off Huggins and six runners left on base. Blain’s single in the third was the team’s first hit of the game, and the Wave left the bases loaded in the sixth when Garrett Jones flied out to first to end the inning.

But the 5-1 win was good enough to wipe out any ill feelings about that. The Green Wave got that important first game win to put the pressure on Houlka today, and a Green Wave win would give the school its first state title since 1995.

&uot;I feel like (Houlka) is going to come out and have a good game,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;They’ve got a good team. They made some good plays &045; the kind you expect to see in a championship game. I was really disappointed in how we swung the bats today, but (Huggins) had a little to do with that. The kid threw some good pitches out there on the mound.&uot;