A quick start had the Marian softball team in control early against Shenandoah Valley on Tuesday.

But the Blue Devils wouldn’t go down easy and battled back to make things interesting.

In the end, however, Marian wasn’t going to be denied as it posted a 10-5 Schuylkill League decision.

The Fillies took charge immediately, scoring half of their 10 runs in the opening inning. The Fillies patiently took advantage of three walks and hits supplied by Mia Nemeth and Morgan Kelly to do their damage.

But Shenandoah used a four-run outburst in the top of the fourth to get right back into the game.

“Hey, they’re a much-improved team,” said Marian coach Joe DeAngelo. “We had to work for this win. This was a game of rallies. We had the first and the last ones, but they had one as well.”

Leading 5-0, Marian pushed across another run in the home third when Kelly smoked a double, her second of three hits on the day. She eventually came around to score on a pair of wild pitches to make it 6-0.

But just when it looked like the Fillies might be able to go into cruise control, the Devils struck back, scoring four runs in the top of the fourth.

After winning pitcher Kelly whiffed her seventh batter of the 10 outs to that point, Shenandoah responded. The Devils parlayed four walks, singles off the bats of Hannah DeAngelo and Vanessa Coyle, and a Marian error to suddenly get right back into the thick of things.

“We are really getting better, but we need to learn how to play better earlier in games,” Shenandoah coach Ali Semanchik said. “Our fundamentals are better, but we let them take that early lead. It was the same when we played them the first time (an 11-7 Marian victory).

“Any time you score five runs or more, you should be able to win games,” Semanchik continued. “But Marian knows how to win games like this, and until we get to that level, the results are going to look the same. But we have improved.”

Marian countered back with a four-run home fifth, thanks to a pair of walks, Alisa Heisey’s two-run double, and Nemeth’s run-scoring single.

“We need to do a better job of finishing off teams,” DeAngelo said. “The key is to stay out of the big innings in high school softball and both teams had big innings today ... fortunately, we had two and they had one.”

STILL AHEAD

… Marian’s win keeps it at the front of the pack in the Schuylkill League Division II race as it improved to 8-4 overall, and 6-4 in the league. Shenandoah Valley falls to 4-11 overall, and 2-7 in the league. Weatherly (4-4 in league play) remains in second place in the division race.

HITTING IT OFF

… Marian was led at the plate by Kelly’s three hits and two RBIs. Nemeth also added two hits.

EARLY MOJO

… Kelly had it going on early from the mound and finished with 11 strikeouts. She was touched for five singles.

Shenandoah 000 401 0 – 5 5 1

Marian 501 400 x – 10 8 2

Davis and A. Menjivar; Kelly and Grabowski. W – Kelly L – Davis.