Brandi McGraw tossed a one-hitter and Elizabeth Blackwell went 3-for-3 with a home run to lead the Cathedral Lady Green Wave slow-pitch softball team to an 11-3 win over the rival St. Aloysius Lady Flashes.

Cathedral (4-4 overall, 0-1 district), coming off a 20-4 drumming at the hands of Bogue Chitto two weeks ago, was looking to get back into the win column.

&uot;We played a lot better ball this game than we did last game,&uot;&160;Lady Wave head coach Gary Blackwell said. &uot;We’re starting to come around. Our defense is getting better, our hitting is getting better. We played a lot better than we’ve been playing.&uot;

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Cathedral’s Blackwell singled and came around to score on Megan Whittington’s inside-the-park home run.

The Lady Wave struck again in the second inning scoring six runs after two were out, highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Jennifer Bernard and a two-run shot by Blackwell.

The score after two innings was 8-0 in favor of the Lady Wave.

&uot;Usually that’s what happens to us, we’ll have a couple of big innings then we’ll get lazy and that’s what happened to us and we let them get back in the ball game,&uot; Blackwell said.

St. Al put up three runs, two unearned, in the top of the fourth inning making the score 8-3.

Cathedral senior outfielder Claire Kenda said her team had the right mindset heading into its first game after a long layoff.

&uot;We came out ready to win,&uot;&160;she said. &uot;We just tried to stay focused. We’ve been hitting well at practice, but that’s definitely been our weak spot. But we’re working on it. Everybody did a good job today.&uot;

The Lady Wave answered with three runs of its own in the fifth inning.

McGraw picked up the win on the mound for the Lady Wave, while Carrie Hattaway suffered the loss on the mound.

&uot;Brandi’s been doing this for a long time, so she’s knows what she’s doing,&uot;&160;Blackwell said.

Kalin Kirkwood and Bernard also pitched in with two hits apiece in the winning effort, and Mattie Smith tripled in four at-bats for the Lady Wave.

Cathedral is scheduled to travel to Salem on Thursday for a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m., however Blackwell said Salem is still without power as a result of Hurricane Katrina.