Mar 29, 2025
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral shortstop Ashlyn Hillesheim (2) leaps for a catch in shallow left field during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover softball opener against Cleveland on Friday at Harman Park in New Ulm.
NEW ULM — Not too many people’s bingo cards had New Ulm Cathedral falling short in its softball season opener.
That was the case Friday, however, as Cleveland Clippers starting pitcher Delaney Thompson returned to the lineup and kept the defending Class A state champion Greyhounds in check for a 3-2 win in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover softball game.
Thompson, who missed all of her freshman year with a torn ACL, took the circle again for her first game since eighth grade. The sophomore’s start didn’t go unblemished, but she got enough from her offense early and did enough with her arm to hold off the Greyhounds for the win.
“I was told it’s gonna be a really long recovery, and I’ll be out for the entire softball season, and I was really bummed about that,” Thompson said. “And then I just was did my part of showing up for the team and like cheering them on for every single game … going to practice with them.
“And then I was told that I can start pitching and then at least very frequently, I went to the gym and pitched and just kept pitching until I finally got myself back. And being back with the team is so much fun.”
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Ava Schmid singles during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover softball against Cleveland on Friday at Harman Park in New Ulm.
Thompson finished with the complete game and allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and three walks while striking out six.
Greyhounds head coach Jamie Kuehn complimented Thompson but also said she knows her Greyhounds may have some things to learn this year.
“We didn’t know much about her last year,” Kuehn said. “She’s good. She’s got a lot of pitches, changes speeds well. We’ve got a lot of new girls in new positions that they haven’t played before. We knew it was going to be a learning year, and hopefully we get better as the year goes on. But we had one bad inning.”
That one bad inning came in the first when Cleveland took a quick 3-0 lead off the Greyhounds and starting pitcher Abbey Hillesheim, who pitched a complete game and allowed nine hits and no walks for three earned runs while striking out three.
The Clippers got their first run on a double by Keira Schipper and made it 3-0 when Taylor McCabe had a two-run homer. McCabe ended up going 3 for 3 to lead the Cleveland bats.
Thompson said she felt some added pressure starting the season against a team that lost just twice last season and won the Class A state title, but she didn’t let it weigh on her.
“I definitely did [feel pressure], but at the same time, it’s like, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose,’” Thompson said. “So we just had to go out there and play our hearts out and do what we can do.”
The Greyhounds got a run back in the bottom of the first when Jaylin Hartness singled to score Ava Brennan, who singled to lead off, took second on a sac bunt by Hillesheim and went to third when Ava Schmid reached on an error.
They added another run in the third when Brennan grounded out to score Jayde Altermatt, who was on third after a leadoff triple.
Both pitchers settled in from there out and didn’t allow many base runners in the final innings. Hillesheim allowed just three runners on in the final three innings, while Thompson allowed one.
Kuehn said she told her players to let the loss hurt but also move on from it.
“We told him that this one should hurt a little bit and to let it hurt and learn from it,” Kuehn said. “And we said when we lost to Windom last year, we got that one out of the way the monkey’s off the back.
You can only go up from here. It’s not bad to lose the game, it just [is tough] when it’s the first one.”
Cathedral (0-1) is at Wabasso on Thursday for a Tomahawk Division game, while Cleveland (1-0) travels to Searles to take on Madelia on Tuesday in a Valley Division game.
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