MONROE - After knocking off Verona 2-0 on the road Monday night, Monroe softball coach Dale Buvid swallowed hard and saw the centerpiece of Tuesday's after-school schedule.

He admitted his Lady Cheesemakers came out flat, but they ultimately survived a 3-0 decision at Twining Park against an up-and-coming Stougton ballclub.

"We were flat and you saw it coming as a coach," Buvid said. "Games like this just scare you and Stoughton's gotten much better as a ballclub."

Monroe perhaps put Buvid's nerves to rest with a run in both the first and second inning before going cold. They finally added an insurance run in the sixth as senior Renee Schuttler led off with a triple and scored.

Carlie Olsen gave her skipper little reason for concern as the senior starter struck out six, walked one and scattered just two hits in earning a complete-game shutout.

Her counterpart only issued one free pass and didn't allow the Cheesemakers to square up her off-speed offerings.

Junior Emily Rufenacht showed that Monroe's recent ladder drills, used to get better at hitting off-speed stuff, paid off as she crushed the ball for two hits in a fine bounceback game.

"She really struck the ball well today on a day when we really didn't hit it hard very many times," Buvid said.