Cathedral’s Franta 1-hits Jaguars in Section 2A baseball

NEW ULM -- New Ulm Cathedral junior right-hander Levi Franta made efficient use of his four-pitch repertoire during Thursday afternoon's Section 2A baseball playoff game at Johnson Park.

Franta hurled a one-hit shutout on the strength of a game-best 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work to propel the No. 2-seeded Greyhounds to a 6-0 victory over the No. 6-seeded Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars during a sectional clash of unbeatens in New Ulm.

New Ulm Cathedral (17-5) advances to face No. 1-seeded Sleepy Eye Public at 11 a.m. Saturday in the last clash of sectional unbeatens at ISG Field in Mankato. Sleepy Eye defeated No. 4-seeded Mankato Loyola, 9-1, to stay perfect in the postseason.

The Jaguars (10-9) face No. 5-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary's in a 1:15 p.m. elimination game Saturday at ISG Field in Mankato. The Knights rallied from a late 5-2 deficit to edge No. 8-seeded Martin County West, 6-5.

"He (Franta) and Carter Haala are the two guys we consider the aces of our pitching staff," said New Ulm Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas. "I thought Levi changed speeds well today, hit his spots and attacked the strike zone to put a lot of pressure on the opposing hitters.

"He has four pitches -- fastball, curve, changeup and a little cutter -- and mixed them effectively to keep the batters offstride."

Franta retired the first 11 Jaguar batters he faced before first baseman Peyton Franzen connected for a two-out single to left field in the top of the fourth inning to spoil the Greyhound ace's no-hit bid.

Ironically, Franta retired eight straight hitters after allowing Franzen's hit before issuing his only walk of the game to -- who else -- Franzen with one out in the seventh.

While Franta was holding the Jaguar bats in check, the Greyhounds' lineup manufactured its initial run without the benefit of a hit during the bottom of the second. Brock Wellmann walked, stole second base, and later swiped third on the heels of Caleb Forstner getting plunked by a pitch from Jaguars' right-hander Kaiden Musser.

Wellmann then crossed the plate when Colin Anderson's safety squeeze bunt was thrown wide to first base.

Jaguar second baseman McKenna Benck then snared a liner off Jake Finstad's bat and flipped to shortstop Carson Hastad for the inning-ending double play.

Cathedral then combined a suicide-squeeze bunt -- that generated two runs -- with a double, a single, two walks and two Jaguar errors to produce four runs in the third en route to a 5-0 lead.

Kyle Seidl walked, stole second and crossed the plate when Franta's tapper in front of the plate was thrown into right field. Thomas Finstad walked and swiped second to put two runners in scoring position. Carter Haala dropped down a perfect bunt to score an aggressive Franta before Thomas Finstad alertly slid home to beat the return throw from first base.

Matt Seidl later singled and Forstner dropped in a bloop double just inside the right-field line to earn one RBI for the five-run gap.

Forstner, who went 2-for-2, later singled in the fifth, reached third base on a steal of second combined with a throwing error, and scored on Logan Mielke's pinch-hit RBI single.

Kyle Seidl went 2-for-3 for Cathedral.

Musser allowed five runs -- zero earned -- on four hits, walked seven, struck out four and hit one batter in four innings pitched to take the loss for the Jaguars.

Hastad gave up one earned run on three hits, struck out one and did not issue a walk in two innings of relief for the Jaguars.

MGT          000 000 0 -- 0 1 4

NUC          014  010  x -- 6 7 1

Kaiden Musser (LP), Carson Hastad (5) and Matthew Steuber, Luke Kester (3). Levi Franta (WP) and Brock Wellmann.

LOB--New Ulm Cathedral 7, Martin Luther/GHEC/Truman 2. 2B--Caleb Forstner (NUC). SAC--Carter Haala (NUC), Colin Anderson (NUC).

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Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 6, Martin County West 5 -- Brandon Schmitz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk-off the No. 5-seeded Knights over the No. 8-seeded Mavericks during a sectional elimination game Thursday night in Sleepy Eye.

St. Mary's faces Martin Luther/GHEC/Truman in a 1:15 p.m. elimination game Saturday at ISG Field in Mankato. Martin County West ended its season with an 8-9 overall record.

Trailing 5-2, Owen Weiss' key two-run single trimmed the Knights' deficit to one before an interference call knotted the game at 5. Kaleb Wait scored the winning run when Schmitz was hit by a pitch.

Jon Petermann went 3-for-4 with one RBI to top St. Mary's.

Zach Anderson went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for Martin County West, while Lucas Larson went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Talan Helget relieved in the top of the seventh inning for the Knights, allowing no hits or runs to earn the win. Helget did not issue a walk and struck out two.

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Section 2AA Playoffs

The No. 4-seeded Le Sueur-Henderson Giants edged the No. 8-seeded Blue Earth Area Bucs, 7-5, during a Section 2AA unbeaten-bracket game on Thursday in Le Sueur.

Blue Earth Area faces No. 11-seeded Sibley East in a 3:30 p.m. elimination game Saturday at Tink Larson Field in Waseca.

Sibley East advanced by posting a 7-0 victory over No. 7-seeded Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Thursday.

Le Sueur-Henderson plays No. 2-seeded Belle Plaine at 11 a.m. Saturday in the final game between unbeatens in Waseca.

No individual or team statistics were reported.

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Iowa Softball

North Union 9, Belmond-Klemme 1 -- Beth Streuber and Emily Meyer each hammered a pair of home runs to power the Iowa Class 2A No. 7-ranked Warriors to a 9-1 Top of Iowa Conference triumph over the Broncos on Wednesday night in Swea City.

Streuber connected on a solo shot and added a three-run blast to produce a game-best four RBIs to complement scoring twice for North Union.

Meyer cranked a two-run round-tripper and belted a solo HR to generate three RBIs and also crossed the plate twice.

Shelby Fraker contributed three of the Warriors' dozen hits, scored two runs and collected one RBI in the win.

Meyer pitched a two-hit complete-game gem to improve her seasonal record to 5-1 overall. The hard-throwing senior right-hander recorded a game-best 15 strikeouts in seven innings.

North Union (5-1) travels to Algona, Iowa, tonight to face Bishop Garrigan in a non-league contest.