The Pacelli Catholic High School baseball team was unable to overcome a fourth-inning rally from Marathon, as it had its season come to close in a WIAA Division 3 Sectional Semifinal at Saint Mary Catholic in Neenah Tuesday, June 5.

With the score tied 0-0 heading into the top of the fourth inning, top-seeded Marathon (21-1) rallied for four runs to go up 4-0, and held off a late charge from the third-seeded Cardinals (17-8) to advance to the Sectional Final with a 6-3 win.

Pacelli won 6-4 over top-seeded Amherst on the road Thursday, May 31, to capture the Regional Title in head coach Wayne Sankey’s 500th game as the Cardinals’ head coach, and send the team to the Sectional Semifinals to face Marathon Tuesday at noon.

Neither offense was able to break through early, as Pacelli had runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the third before Marathon used a groundout to end the inning and keep the score tied at 0-0, while Pacelli junior pitcher Nate Helms carried a no-hitter into the top of the fourth inning.

There, Marathon led off with back-to-back singles, before it had a hit batter to load the bases with nobody out.

Following a strikeout, Marathon scored on a RBI groundout to take a 1-0 lead, then senior Preston Krautkramer hit a two-out, three-run home run to left field to give Marathon a 4-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the top of the sixth inning, when Marathon loaded the bases against sophomore Cam Landwer relief pitcher on a walk, error and one-out hit by pitch, then drew a pair of two-out, bases loaded walks on 3-2 pitches to score two runs and go up 6-0.

The Cardinals struck in the bottom of the sixth inning when junior Zach Zimmerman led off with a double and Helms followed with a RBI double to make it 6-1, which it remained heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Pacelli started a rally late when sophomore right fielder Tim Tippel had a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh, and junior catcher Seth Shulfer belted a two-run home run to pull the Cardinals within 6-3.

However, Marathon got a groundout to close out a 6-3 win, and then lost 6-2 to fourth-ranked Saint Mary Catholic (17-2) in the Sectional Final Tuesday night.

Helms took the loss after he allowed four earned runs on three hits, struck out five and walked two over five innings, while Marathon senior pitcher Riley Anderson recorded the win after he struck out 11, walked one and allowed three earned runs on six hits in six and 2/3 innings.

Shulfer finished with a double and a home run, Zimmerman had a double among his two hits, and Helms added a double to lead the Pacelli offense.