CLINTON - Monroe's season came to an end in a 9-3 loss to Clinton in the first round of the WIAA playoffs.
After two scoreless innings, Clinton opened the scoring with a four-run third inning. The Cougars tacked on three more in the fourth. After two more Clinton runs in the sixth, Monroe got on the board in the top of the seventh with three runs. Only four of Clinton's runs were earned.
"We walked eight guys and hit a couple guys. Our overall strike percentage was way down. Mix in three errors and that's a lot of guys on base," Monroe coach Dustin Huffman said. "They were able to steal some runs on some safety squeezes. They only had five hits and only three left the infield. They didn't have any extra base hits. It was just station to station with the errors and walks."
Senior Kevin Klopfenstein was the top Cheesemaker at the plate. Klopfenstein went 2-for-4 including a two-RBI single in the seventh.
"It was a nice way for him to end his career," Huffman said. "Obviously we would have liked to win. He's had a nice career for us. He doesn't give in, he battled. Even though we were down 9-0, he was still at the plate working hard."
Monroe finished the season with a 2-20 record. The Cheesemakers graduate eight seniors and Huffman said it will be incumbent upon the returning players to work hard in the offseason.
"We graduate eight seniors, which is a lot," he said. "We had three sophomores and a freshman get some playing time. We have some youth. They'll have to work hard this summer and work at the little things that make a baseball team successful. They need to try to learn more about the game of baseball, not so much with a bat and glove, but getting smarter with the game of baseball... We have a pretty talented freshman class coming in next year. There's definitely some nice pieces to work with."
After two scoreless innings, Clinton opened the scoring with a four-run third inning. The Cougars tacked on three more in the fourth. After two more Clinton runs in the sixth, Monroe got on the board in the top of the seventh with three runs. Only four of Clinton's runs were earned.
"We walked eight guys and hit a couple guys. Our overall strike percentage was way down. Mix in three errors and that's a lot of guys on base," Monroe coach Dustin Huffman said. "They were able to steal some runs on some safety squeezes. They only had five hits and only three left the infield. They didn't have any extra base hits. It was just station to station with the errors and walks."
Senior Kevin Klopfenstein was the top Cheesemaker at the plate. Klopfenstein went 2-for-4 including a two-RBI single in the seventh.
"It was a nice way for him to end his career," Huffman said. "Obviously we would have liked to win. He's had a nice career for us. He doesn't give in, he battled. Even though we were down 9-0, he was still at the plate working hard."
Monroe finished the season with a 2-20 record. The Cheesemakers graduate eight seniors and Huffman said it will be incumbent upon the returning players to work hard in the offseason.
"We graduate eight seniors, which is a lot," he said. "We had three sophomores and a freshman get some playing time. We have some youth. They'll have to work hard this summer and work at the little things that make a baseball team successful. They need to try to learn more about the game of baseball, not so much with a bat and glove, but getting smarter with the game of baseball... We have a pretty talented freshman class coming in next year. There's definitely some nice pieces to work with."
