NATCHEZ — Neither Cathedral High School nor Bogue Chitto High School could get the final three outs without letting in some runs.

Fortunately for the Lady Green Wave, home-field advantage meant they batted in the bottom half of the seventh, and Beth Fortenbery played the role of hero for Cathedral.

With two outs and Fortenbery on third in a 4-4 tie, a ball got by Bogue Chitto catcher Adrienne Wallace. It was Bogue Chitto’s first passed ball of the game, and Fortenbery was off to the races.

Fortenbery barreled over Wallace before the play could be made, and Cathedral ended up with a big 5-4 conference win. After the win, Fortenbery said she was running no matter if the ball got by the catcher.

“Once I saw it was tied, and I was sitting on third, and I was like, ‘If it’s a passed ball, I have to go for it,’” Fortenbery said. “That next pitch was a passed ball, and I took off.”

The big win came after Cathedral blew a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning thanks to some defensive miscues. Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said the win was a big one for the Lady Green Wave’s momentum, especially since they were able to come back after losing the lead.

“It’s definitely a big one, because now we’re 3-0 in (the region),” Blackwell said. “Bogue Chitto is our big competition in the (region), so this win was really, really big. It gives us a lot of good momentum, for sure.”

After getting one quick out in the top of the seventh inning, two straight errors allowed two Bogue Chitto runners to reach base. Cathedral starter Mollie Devening then gave up a double to Wallace that scored Mattie Avants.

Two batters later, a fielding error by shortstop Ginny Daggett and a throwing error by centerfielder Mackenzie Watts — all on the same play — sent Wallace and Alana Nettles home, giving Bogue Chitto a 4-3 lead, its first of the game. Devening buckled down and got the last two outs, but the Lady Green Wave were in big need of a seventh-inning rally.

“I told them they have to do what they know how to do,” Blackwell said. “They’re a gritty team, they’ve been doing this a long time. (I told them to) just go out there and do their job, and that’s what they did.”

But it was errors that gave Bogue Chitto its lead, and errors that took that lead away. After leadoff batter McKenzie Milligan got out, Kimble Devening and Daggett reached base on back-to-back singles. Fortenbery then reached on a fielder’s choice that forced Kimble out at third.

The next batter, Mollie Devening, laced a groundball that Bogue Chitto that bounced off Avants’ glove at shortstop and rolled into center field. The play scored Daggett and brought Fortenbery to third, setting up the Lady Green Wave’s walkoff win.

Cathedral scored first in the top of the second when courtesy runner Abby Brown came home on a fielder’s choice. Bogue Chitto tied the game in the top of the fourth when Wallace came home on a bases-loaded walk.

Brown scored again in the bottom of the fourth on another fielder’s choice. Milligan gave Cathedral a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when she scored on a fielder’s choice.

Mollie Devening got the win, going all seven innings and giving up five runs, zero earned, on five hits and two walks. She had five strikeouts and was the victim of five Lady Green Wave errors.

“Mollie did a great job,” Blackwell said. “Errors, that’s one other thing that’s been killing us this year. It seems like we don’t have just one error in an inning we’ll have two or three or four. She did a fantastic job. If it wasn’t for the errors, she would have done perfect.”

Bogue Chitto starter Rheagan Welch took the loss. She went seven innings, giving up five runs on nine hits. She had six strikeouts and no walks, and she hit one batter. Bogue Chitto tallied three errors on defense.

Cathedral (10-4-1) will host Vidalia at 6 p.m. today.