Softball: Fast start and big finish, plus big day from Haehlke, lifts Marathon to win over Newman Catholic.

For the Newman Catholic softball team, the middle of their game at Marathon on Tuesday was pretty good. It was the beginning and the end that hurt the Cardinals in a 17-7 loss in Marawood-South action.

Marathon scored 7 times in both their first and last at-bats in the game. In the bottom of the 1st Marathon took the lead on an RBI triple by Mayven Schneider. That was only the start of the big inning as Danica Staus, Rehgan Martin, Riley Skrzypchak would follow with RBI hits to extend the lead to 4-0. After the first out of the inning, Mylee Haehlke would drive a pitch over the center field fence for a two-run homer to make it 6-0. Brinly Stencil would add a sacrifice fly to make it a 7 spot for the Raiders in the 1st.

Marathon would add a pair of runs in the second to make it 9-0 before the Cardinals would make it interesting with crooked numbers in the fourth and sixth innings. Newman got on the board with 3 runs in the fourth, including RBI hits from Wildfire Allery and Izzy Sherry. It was 10-3 heading to the 6th when Newman would score 4 times to pull within 3. Brianna Schultz's 2 RBI single pulled the Cardinals to within 10-7 heading to the bottom of the 6th.

Marathon would score 7 times in the 6th to end the game. Allison Podjaski had an RBI single, Haehlke would follow with a run scoring double and Tyla Beilke-Seubert would single in a run to make it 13-7. With 2 out, Brinly Stencil would hit a 2 run homer and Rehgan Martin a 2 run double to make it 17-7 and end the game due to the 10-run rule.

Newman (1-4 overall, 0-3 Marawood-South) got a 2 for 3 hitting performance from Allery while Haehlke would finish 3 for 3 with 5 RBI and pair of runs scored for Marathon. Martin was 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored for the Raiders, who improved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The teams will meet again on Thursday at Sunnyvale Park in Wausau.