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NATCHEZ — Perhaps it’s a good thing that the Cathedral High School Lady Green Wave do not play again until Saturday in the MAIS Class 5A South State Tournament. Pitcher Lily Crum probably needs to rest her arm after her performances earlier in the week in the circle.

First on the road in Vicksburg against District 4-5A rival St. Aloysius High School, Crum struck out 16 batters and walked none in a complete-game outing as Cathedral actually had to rally from an early deficit to defeat the Lady Flashes 10-2 last Monday afternoon to finish in second place in district play.

“I like the fact that we continue to work together and play good defense until we can string some hits together offensively,” Lady Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said.

Then against a good Prairie View Academy team last Tuesday afternoon, Crum struck out 17 batters while walking four batters. But this time the Lady Green Wave needed a five-run rally in the bottom of the fourth inning to defeat the Lady Spartans 7-3 to round out the regular season.

“Anna Arthur had a big two-out, three-RBI double against Prairie View in the bottom of the fourth to give us a four-run lead. At the time the score was 2-1. That hit put us up 5-1,” Beesley said.

Both teams ended up scoring two runs in the fifth inning to make it a 7-3 game, which ended up being the final score. And even though that was the only hit for Arthur, the No. 9 hitter in the line-up, it turned out to be a very big hit which helped swing the momentum in Cathedral’s favor — especially after the Lady Green Wave was held scoreless over the first three innings of what was at the end of the third inning a 0-0 game.

Cathedral only had five hits in the game. Kinslee Young went 2-for-2 with a double, one RBI, two runs scored, and was walked once. Liza Gregg went 1-for-3 with a double while KG Fisher was 1-for-3 with one run scored. However, the Lady Spartans did commit two errors and their pitchers walked four batters.

Crum gave up three runs, two of them earned, on just four hits. The defense behind her committed just one error.

Cathedral (23-3) next takes on District 3-5A No. 3 seed Oak Forest Academy in the first round of the MAIS Class 5A South State Tournament at the Hansel King Sportsplex in Brookhaven with Brookhaven Academy as the host school at 10 a.m. Saturday.

In Monday’s victory over St. Aloysius, the Lady Flashes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. However, that lead would not last very long as the Lady Green Wave scored two runs in the top of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2 and the took the lead for good with one run in the top of the third.

“Both games this week we have fallen behind and came back to win,” Beesley said.

Cathedral added to runs in the top of the fourth inning, one run in the top of the fifth, and four runs in the top of the seventh. The Lady Green Wave finished with 15 total base hits and, defensively, committed just one error. They had six players with at least two base hits.

KG Fisher went 3-for-5 with a double, one RBI, and two runs scored. EC Lewis was 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored. Crum, Liza Gregg, Hannah Hargon, and Molly Shirley each went 2-for-4. Hargon had four RBIs and one run scored while Shirley scored two runs. Crum and Gregg each had one RBI. Kinslee Young homered and went 1-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.

After giving up those two runs, both of them earned, in the first inning, Crum did not give up any more runs over the final six innings. In a complete-game performance, she gave up four base hits.

Cathedral finished 4-2 in District 4-5A while St. Aloysius finished in third place in district play. Adams County Christian School finished fourth in District 4-5A and will take on District 3-5A No. 1 seed Parklane Academy in a first-round game of this double-elimination tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday.