Softball: Marathon falls to Mineral Point in pitcher's duel in state tourney semifinal

The Marathon High School softball team made it to the state tournament for the first time and had to battle the weather before hitting the field late Thursday night in a Division 4 state semifinal vs. Mineral Point in Madison. Marathon pitcher Allison Podjaski pitched another strong game but the Red Raider bats were silenced in a 2-0 defeat.

Podjaski and Mineral Point pitcher Tenleigh Bockhop matched scoreless innings until the bottom of the 5th when the Pointers scored the only runs of the game with a pair of two out RBI hits. With a runner on 3rd and two out, Mineral Point broke the deadlock with an RBI infield single by Austy Kinch to make it 1-0. Jadyn Schultz followed with an RBI single to right center and it was 2-0.

Marathon was unable to solve Bockhop as the Raiders only had 3 hits in the game. Danica Staus, Rehgan Martin and Tyla Beilke-Seubert had the hits for Marathon, who finished their season at 25-6. Mineral Point improved to 27-4 overall and move on to Saturday's D-4 state championship game vs. Johnson Creek, who beat Grantsburg 9-0 on Thursday.