Archbishop Murphy built a 7-1 lead and then hung on to defeat the South Whidbey High School softball team 8-6 in the Cascade Conference opener Wednesday, March 28, in Everett.

The contest was a pitching duel between the Falcons’ Mackenzee Collins and the Wildcats’ Brooke Jordan.

Each pitched a six-hitter; Collins struck out 13, one mare than Jordan.

The Falcons scored first in the top of the second inning when Collins reached on an error and scored on Ari Marshall’s grounder.

With help of three errors, Archbishop Murphy scored seven runs over the next two innings to lead 7-1.

South Whidbey cut the gap to two, 7-5, with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and two in the sixth.

In the fourth, Collins and Marshall team-up again to push across a Falcon run. Collins singled, moved to second on Natalie Wilmoth’s walk and scored on Marshall’s single.

Bekah Morrow reached on a Wildcat miscue in the fifth and scored on Collins’ double.

Shelby Campbell and Makenna Morley started the sixth with walks. Marshall singled in one run and eventually scored on Melody Wilkie’s grounder to second base.

The Wildcats scored once in the bottom of the sixth, then South Whidbey tallied its final run in the top of the seventh on a single by Campbell and a double by Morley.

Marshall finished with two hits and three RBI. Collins added two hits and two runs.

South Whidbey (0-1, 3-2) hosts Sultan (0-0, 0-1) at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 29.