NATCHEZ — The Cathedral Lady Green Wave had their backs to the wall after a loss to Salem in the opening game of a doubleheader Tuesday.

But like they have done all season, the Lady Wave came back strong and took over first place in the district with an 8-5 win in the second game.

Behind a strong pitching performance from Kayla Puder, the Lady Wildcats prevailed 4-2.

Cathedral needed to win the second game by at least three runs to take over first place.

The Lady Green Wave did just that, rallying to take an 8-5 win at the Natchez-Adams Girls Softball Complex.

In the opening game of the afternoon, Kayla Puder did a good job of mixing pitches that kept Cathedral’s hitters guessing. She kept the Lady Green Wave off the scoreboard until the top of the sixth inning when they scored two runs. Ginny Daggett brought in one of those runs with a triple.

“Their pitcher was keeping us off balanced. She kept us in check. We just weren’t seeing the ball,” Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said. “Not getting the timely hits. We didn’t leave many on base.”

Mollie Devening had two of Cathedral’s other three hits in the game. And despite the loss, she held Salem to just three hits in the game. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a two-run home run by Breanna Lirette in the bottom of the third inning that propelled the Lady Wildcats to a 4-0 lead.

In the second game, Salem jumped out to a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning. That is when Cathedral started its rally by scoring three runs to make it a tie ball game. Both teams scored one run in the fifth inning and Salem scored one run in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead.

But the Lady Green Wave responded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead and Ginny Daggett did the rest by shutting out Salem in the top of the seventh.

“As usual, we started a little slow. We had to come back as we’ve done so many times,” Blackwell said. “The girls never gave up. Timely hitting in that last inning helped us out. It was a very important game for us. We were able to stick in there and win that second game.”

It was important because Cathedral (9-7, 1-1) defeated Salem by more runs in the second game than Salem beat Cathedral in the first game, giving the Lady Green Wave first place in division play. Both teams still have to play Resurrection later this season.

Franklin County 11, Tylertown 0

TYLERTOWN — Destiny Dedeaux and Kacey Smith combined to pitch a no-hitter and struck out a total of 11 batters as the Franklin County Lady Bulldogs steamrolled past the Tylertown Lady Chiefs in a Division 7-3A matchup Tuesday afternoon.

Dedeaux pitched the first three innings to pick up the win. She struck out seven of the nine batters she faced and walked none. Smith went the final two innings and struck out four of the six batters she faced. And not only that, Franklin County committed no errors.

The Lady Bulldogs scored six runs in the top of the first inning to give Dedeaux more than enough run support. However, they weren’t through adding to their lead. They scored two runs in the top of the second, one in the top of the third and two more in the top of the fourth.

Franklin County (12-3, 2-0) had its way with Tylertown’s pitchers to the tune of 18 hits. Ke Ke Collins led the way by going 4-for-4 and Allison Hauer went 3-for-3 with a triple. Dedeaux and Smith also got into the act as both of them had two hits.

The Lady Bulldogs travel to Foxworth to take on West Marion Thursday afternoon with an opportunity to wrap up the division championship.

Monterey 12, Harrisonburg 0

MONTEREY, La. — Paige Bryan gave up a leadoff triple to Taylor Sheppard. That would be Harrisonburg’s only hit of the game as the Monterey Lady Wolves took care of the Lady Bulldogs in five innings Tuesday afternoon in a District 6-B game.

Bryan struck out seven batters and walked just two in five innings while the defense behind her played error-free baseball. It was Monterey’s third win in its last four games going back to last weekend’s Vidalia Tournament.

Monterey (10-13, 2-5) scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. The Lady Wolves, who had 13 hits in the game and were aided by three Harrisonburg errors, plated two runs in the bottom of the second and four in the bottom of the fourth.

Ellen Bairnsfather went 3-for-3 with two doubles and Casey White was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. Ariel Hector and Karlee Woodruff each went 2-for-3 with a double.