STOUGHTON - A string of difficult losses may be taking a toll on the Monroe softball team.
The Cheesemakers appeared to have a break on the schedule Monday when they faced a Stoughton team that Monroe coach Dale Buvid said leads the Badger South Conference in runs allowed.
But Stoughton pitchers Sarah Seaton and Casey Beckwith allowed just four hits combined and the Vikings defeated the Cheesemakers 3-1.
"It has just been a struggle on offense all year and it continues to be," Buvid said. "They give up the most runs in the conference and we could only scratch out a run.
"It's the softest, easiest pitching we've seen in some time and we did absolutely nothing with it. It's a mystery."
The Cheesemakers (7-7, 4-4 Badger South) scored their run in the third inning on a two-out single by senior Alyssa Montgomery, who went 2-for-3.
But the Vikings answered in the bottom of the inning, when McKenzie Harnack had an RBI single, a run scored on an error and Emily Auby had an RBI groundout.
Fort Atkinson got three of its five hits off Monroe junior pitcher Becca Armstrong in the inning. She allowed three runs, two of them earned, while walking two and strikeout our four.
Monroe left five runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings combined.
"We hit some line drives - not screamers, but line drives that got caught," Buvid said. "When you're going back, that stuff happens.
"But we believe in our kids and we plan on getting this thing right. We have a couple weeks yet to fix it."
The Cheesemakers appeared to have a break on the schedule Monday when they faced a Stoughton team that Monroe coach Dale Buvid said leads the Badger South Conference in runs allowed.
But Stoughton pitchers Sarah Seaton and Casey Beckwith allowed just four hits combined and the Vikings defeated the Cheesemakers 3-1.
"It has just been a struggle on offense all year and it continues to be," Buvid said. "They give up the most runs in the conference and we could only scratch out a run.
"It's the softest, easiest pitching we've seen in some time and we did absolutely nothing with it. It's a mystery."
The Cheesemakers (7-7, 4-4 Badger South) scored their run in the third inning on a two-out single by senior Alyssa Montgomery, who went 2-for-3.
But the Vikings answered in the bottom of the inning, when McKenzie Harnack had an RBI single, a run scored on an error and Emily Auby had an RBI groundout.
Fort Atkinson got three of its five hits off Monroe junior pitcher Becca Armstrong in the inning. She allowed three runs, two of them earned, while walking two and strikeout our four.
Monroe left five runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings combined.
"We hit some line drives - not screamers, but line drives that got caught," Buvid said. "When you're going back, that stuff happens.
"But we believe in our kids and we plan on getting this thing right. We have a couple weeks yet to fix it."
