Monroeville softball, S.C. baseball in championship rematches

Two area Firelands Conference teams have championship game rematches against a pair of non-league teams on Friday. In softball, FC co-champion Monroeville (22-6) will play for a Division IV regional championship at 5 p.m. Friday against Carey (18-10) at the Rossford Athletic Complex. The winner advances to the state semifinals at 12:30 p.m. on May 30 at Firestone Stadium in Akron. The regional title game oppose the Eagles and Blue Devils features Canton Central Catholic against state-ranked No. 8 Vienna Mathews in Berea. In baseball, FC co-champion South Central (16-8) faces Seneca East (16-13) in a No. 2 vs. 3 matchup of seeds in the Division IV Galion district. The winner of Friday's 5 p.m. title game at Heise Park will advance to a regional semifinal against Leesburg Fairfield (19-4) at 6 p.m. May 30 at Lancaster's Beavers Field. The Eagles have again made the most of their second-ever regional appearance, as they also won the semifinal round in 2019 in their other appearance. Monroeville routed McDonald, 15-3, before falling to Hillsdale, 5-0, in a regional title game five years ago. On Wednesday, Monroeville steadily outscored Montpelier (17-8) for a 6-1 victory to reach Friday's championship game. Meanwhile, Carey beat No. 7-ranked Van Wert Lincolnview (24-5) by a 2-1 score. Monroeville pitcher Veanna Helmstetter allowed one earned run on three hits in seven innings on Wednesday. She struck out 10 and walked three. Taryn Tyler was 3 for 3 and drove in two runs, while Ava Krueger had a double and a triple among five extra-base hits for the Eagles. Carey was led by pitcher Kenzie Simons on Wednesday. She allowed an unearned run on four hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in a complete-game effort. She threw 92 pitches (66 strikes) in the seven innings. The Eagles and Devils met in the regular season on a Saturday (April 27) for a non-league game in Carey. Monroeville cruised in that matchup for a 12-1 win. Monroeville got to Simons for 10 runs (five earned) on 11 hits in three-plus innings in the victory. At the plate, Tyler hit a home run and had four RBIs in the win over Carey, while Emily Scheid doubled twice with two RBIs and Madison Reiber had three hits. Carey is led by Kynlee Phillips (.436 average, 25 RBIs), while Rylee Row is batting .419 with 10 doubles, four triples and 29 RBIs. In the circle, Simons was 17-8 with a 2.47 ERA and 153 strikeouts before her performance on Wednesday. xxxxx Meanwhile, the Trojans opened the 2024 season with a 5-4 non-league win over Seneca East on March 28 in Greenwich. South Central advanced to the district title game with a 12-3 win over FC rival Plymouth (11-13) in a third meeting between the two teams on Wednesday. The Big Red trailed just 4-3 entering the bottom of the sixth, where the Trojans scored eight times to break the game open. The bottom four spots in the South Central lineup had eight of the team's nine hits. Ace pitcher Eric Sanders went all seven innings in the win. He allowed two earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and four walks. Seneca East advanced by also winning a third meeting with Northern 10 league foe Mohawk in the first game on Wednesday. The 8-7 win over the Warriors came after the away team won both regular season meetings — an 8-0 win by the Tigers and a 7-6 victory by Mohawk on May 3 and May 6. Prior to this week, Seneca East ace pitcher Caden Fritz was also the top hitter in the N10 with a .512 average to go with 15 doubles and five triples. Nicholas Parks had 29 RBIs, while Aiden Hines bats .318 with seven doubles, 26 stolen bases and had scored 39 times. Also for the Tigers, Jake Bowerman had a .323 average with nine doubles, 23 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. After Fritz, the Tigers have used an array of pitchers as their No. 2 starter this season. That group includes Hines (0-4, 4.98 ERA), Parks (1-0, 3.63), Jackson Gayheart (2-2, 4.30) and Bowerman (1-1, 4.67). South Central is likely to start junior Aaron Hauler (6-1, 3.27 ERA). He has 59 strikeouts and 20 walks in 40 2/3 innings. In the season opener, the Trojans scored all five of their runs in the victory over the Tigers in the bottom of the first inning. Alex Hamons walked with the bases loaded, then Wes June hit a sacrifice fly and Bryan Chaffee followed with an RBI single. Hamons then stole home, and Troy Ayers capped the inning with an RBI single. Both Sanders (four innings) and Hauler (three innings) pitched in the game and combined to allow four earned runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. Sanders is batting .429 with six doubles, 22 RBIs and has scored 21 runs this season.