Zack Calhoun didn&8217;t want to smile about it Thursday night, but he and the other seniors at Cathedral have a chance to do so this week.

The Green Wave plays at Salem today with a chance to finish off a third straight undefeated mark in Region 7-1A. The last loss came back during the 2003 season when the Wave lost up at St. Aloysius, and ever since then it&8217;s been all wins.

You can say it doesn&8217;t say much about the region, but the seniors say it&8217;s something special to keep a tradition alive that long. Just don&8217;t ask Calhoun to spit out a number of games won.

&8220;When these seniors were freshmen, they lost one out of two (to St. Al),&8221; he said. &8220;I think we&8217;ve got a 30- to 40-game winning streak in district now.&8221;

It&8217;s definitely something worth noting.

Thursday&8217;s win over St. Al may have been the hardest in that streak due to the rivalry of the two Catholic schools and the budding program the Flashes have. There was a time when

the Green Wave would finish in second place to St. Al in the standings, but Thursday&8217;s win finished off a third straight season sweep for Cathedral.

If the Green Wave can fend off a Salem team that gave the Flashes problems last week today in Tylertown, it&8217;ll be another unbeaten season.

&8220;We&8217;ve got a pretty good win streak going in district,&8221; CHS head coach Craig Beesley said. &8220;We&8217;ve got to go to Salem, and we can&8217;t go in with a frame of mind that we&8217;ve got to compete when we get off the bus. They played St. Al close, and I know we&8217;re going to be in for a dogfight.&8221;

Thursday&8217;s game, however, may have been significant for the simple fact that the Green Wave didn&8217;t play its best game but found a way to win thanks to pitching from Patrick McDonough and timely hitting late in the game.

The left-hander got himself out of situations both on the mound and at the plate. He delivered the game-winning hit in the last of the seventh and got key outs on the mound when the Flashes put runners in scoring position.

The Flashes left runners in scoring position in all but two innings.

&8220;That&8217;s kind of been the story of us all year,&8221; St. Al head coach Clint Wilkerson said. &8220;We&8217;ve left enough on to send them to Iraq and send the ones over there home. We&8217;ve left that many on base. I give Natchez Cathedral credit. They got it done. My hat&8217;s off to them.&8221;

McDonough came up big on the mound in the fifth after a run scored to give the Flashes the lead and two runners moved into scoring position with one out. The Nos. 5 and 6 batters came up, but the left-hander got a pop-up behind the plate that Jesse Morrison snagged before slamming against the fence and a groundout to Preston Edwards at short to end the inning.

&8220;I had to do something,&8221; McDonough said. &8220;I had to go out there and work hard. I felt like I had to do something to pick it up. We played hard and never gave up. Our whole team fought to the end.&8221;

He went the distance, and there were more elbow problems that nagged him earlier this season. McDonough pitched with a black protective wear over the elbow but showed no signs of pain.

&8220;Not too much,&8221; he said. &8220;I might have to stretch it during the game, but other than that it doesn&8217;t give me too many problems.&8221;

SHAKE IT UP &045; There may just be something about pitching at spacious Chester Willis Field that the Trinity Saints like. Or, more specifically, Kolby Godfrey.

It&8217;s a place where shots in the gap seem to roll on forever more than a bad movie, but the Saints liked their chances of throwing their ace at home so much they held him from pitching the first game of their two-game set during the week with Bowling Green.

Stevan Ridley got the start Tuesday at BG, and Godfrey went the distance Friday night in the Saints&8217; 3-2 win.

&8220;We talked about it after a couple weeks of playing and felt like Kolby throws better at home,&8221; Trinity head coach Matt Mason said. &8220;We decided we would pitch Kolby at home and Stevan on the road, and it&8217;s worked out for us. He left a couple of pitches up &045; two pitches in a row &045; but he threw hard. He stayed strong the whole way, and he really stepped up when they had runners in scoring position with some key strikeouts.&8221;

It&8217;s been the pitching and defense that&8217;s made the difference for the Saints this season. They&8217;re out of the playoff picture now with two game remaining in District 4-AA since no help came in the form of Oak Forest losses, but they have a chance to finish with .500 mark in district if they can win at Centreville and at Columbia.

And the bats are getting better. Matthew Freeman had the game-winning RBI Friday night and slammed the team&8217;s first home run Saturday in a 5-4 loss at Copiah in extra innings.

&8220;Freeman is hot right now,&8221; Mason said. &8220;He&8217;s seeing the ball well. It couldn&8217;t have been a better time for him to come to the plate (Friday). He&8217;s got a lot of confidence now.&8221;

JUST A LITTLE OFF &045; What do you do when your curveball doesn&8217;t have that 12-to-6 break on it and the fastball doesn&8217;t exactly have that zip?

You just keep battling. And rely on your defense. Central Hinds head coach Kevin Montgomery liked the way his club made contact with Adams Christian ace Timmy Foster Tuesday as the Cougars scattered six hits and struck out only five times in the six-inning contest.

The big right-hander may have been just a little off in first of two big wins for the Rebels during the week, but the defense backed him up with no errors. And he helped himself at one point defensively by picking off a pinch-runner in the seventh maybe a second after he got into the game.

&8220;He was rusty,&8221; AC head coach Ron Rushing said. &8220;We hadn&8217;t worked him during the week like we should, but he shook it off and threw a good ball game. That&8217;s my fault. We&8217;ve got to throw him during the middle of the week. We&8217;ve been trying to keep a lot of pressure off his arm because he&8217;s thrown so much.&8221;