GREENFIELD — The Cheesemakers topped the defending state champion than to a continued power surge at the plate. Monroe knocked off Whitnall 7-4 May 28 to advance to the sectional title game in hopes of reaching its first state appearance since 2013.

“It feels so good. We’re so happy. This was the game that we were focused on — to get to our goal this is the game we had to get past,” Monroe senior pitcher Olivia Bobak said. The Cheesemakers lost in the sectional semifinal in 2018 and were determined to not just get to the sectional final this season, but to make it back to Madison.

To score the win, the Cheesemakers turned to their powerful bats. Bobak, Hailey Betthauser and Grace Tostrud all homered for Monroe.

The Cheesemakers (21-4), ranked third in Division 2 in the final Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association poll, opened the game nearly identical to the regional final at Jefferson in the previous game — leadoff hitter Alyse Maurer singled to open the contest, and with two outs in the top of the first, Bobak roped a no-doubt home run to center to put Monroe up early.

“I just went out there and tried to relax. I took a deep breath and then I saw the ball. I feel like that gave me the momentum to carry out on the mound and pitch the best that I could,” Bobak said.

Bobak went on to strike out 16 from the pitcher’s circle.

“We were really hoping and pushing to get out early at the start of the game,” Monroe coach Joe O’Leksy said. “Bobak hit that one over the fence and gave us a two-run lead. That kind of shook them up on the other side — they’re not used to it. They have a lot of wins and are the returning state champs.”

Monroe used small-ball to plate a run in the second and added another run on a Tostrud double in the third to put the Cheesemakers ahead 4-0.

“We laid down some bunts, we moved people around, we executed some things well. I thought everybody played really hard and did the best that we could,” O’Leksy said.

Whitnall (23-5), ranked second in the state this year, followed the arm and bat of Haley Wynn to the state title in 2018. Now a senior, Wynn came into the sectional semifinal with a batting average against at .154 and a gaudy 1.51 ERA. At the plate, she had video game-esque batting numbers — a .686 batting average, .735 on base percentage and 1.817 OPS. From the leadoff spot Wynn had three homers, nine triples, seven doubles, 28 steals, 58 runs and just two strikeouts in this her senior season.

But in the top of the third, disaster struck the Falcons. Wynn hit a chopper to short, but as she stepped out of the batter’s box her foot stepped on her bat and she curdled to the ground withering in pain. The crowd and players across the field went silent, with the only sounds to be heard from the highway in the distance, a jetliner over head and Wynn screaming out in pain.

Wynn tried to tough it out, but after just a handful of warmup pitches in the next half inning reached the backstop, she put her hands over her teary eyes and slumped into head coach John Quinlan. Outfielder Alyssa Trensch took over on the mound and pitched a scoreless fourth.

The Falcons, one of the top scoring teams in the state, seemed determined to use Wynn’s injury as a rallying cry. Lucy Plautz tripled to left to lead off the bottom of the fourth and Kayla Hartig brought home a run on a grounder back up the middle. Bobak then walked a batter and hit Kaitlyn Kreutzer with a pitch to load the bases.

But Bobak regained focus and struck out the next two batters on six straight strikes to end the threat. 

“They have a really good hitting team. Their batting order has .400-.600 average hitters. On paper they are a great hitting team,” O’Leksy said.

Betthauser wasted no time getting that run back, smoking the first ball she saw in the top of the fourth clear over the fence in center field.

“I just wanted to make sure I could keep my eye on it. We wanted a bigger lead to feel more comfortable,” said Betthauser, who knew she hit it out as the ball left the bat. “Yeah, it was my pitch.”

Trensch homered to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and Whitnall added another on a double to left by Jessica Vallier. Thinking the throw from the outfield was going home, Vallier attempted to reach third, but Sarah Prien threw a perfect strike to Lizzy Snider to get the out.

With the score 5-3 entering the seventh, Monroe knew it needed some insurance runs. With one out, Bobak singled to center to reach base safely for the fourth time in the game. On the very next pitch, Tostrud sent a no-doubt blast deep to center.

“I was just trying to hit my pitch, but not trying to swing to big. I was just trying to stay calm and keep my head in it,” Tostrud said.

Whitnall got a leadoff double from Abigail Cunningham in the bottom of the seventh, and an RBI single by Hartig, but Bobak struck out Elizabeth Vedbraaten to end the game.

“Our whole focus is that there are 21 outs in a game, and we were counting down — okay there are 9, now there’s 6 outs left. As long as we have more runs when they run out of outs, then we’re going to be great,” O’Leksy said.

Bobak finished 3 for 3 at the plate, while Tostrud, Katie Hayes and Sloane Ambrose all had two hits. Bobak allowed eight hits and four walks in the pitcher’s circle and threw 140 pitches. 

Monroe was set to play McFarland in the sectional final game May 30 at Evansville. 

“They started off really slow, but it doesn’t make any difference if you lost at the beginning of the year — they’re winning at the end of the year. They are really dangerous,” O’Leksy said.

Update: 

Monroe defeated McFarland 4-3 to advance to state. A full recap of the sectional final will be in the Wednesday, June 5 edition of the Times.