Eagles set to face Cuyahoga Heights

The Monroeville softball team will face a Cuyahoga Heights program that is a balance of young and experienced on Wednesday in a Division VII regional semifinal. The No. 8-ranked Eagles (24-3) and Red Wolves (13-8) will meet at Avon Lake High School around 5 p.m. The first regional semifinal features No. 4-ranked Vienna Mathews (24-4) against Southington Chalker (14-4) at 2 p.m. Heights brought back six returning starters from a team that was just 8-11 last season. Three of their top four players, however, are freshmen or sophomores. The Wolves are led by senior first baseman Addison Bohning. She is batting .518 with six doubles and a team-high 26 RBIs. Sophomore catcher Glada Presot typically bats leadoff and is hitting .429 with four doubles, three triples, three home runs and 23 RBIs. Sophomore shortstop Aly Williams bats .510 with two doubles, two triples, one home run and 19 RBIs. Freshman Sophia Mklemburg hits .318 with 16 RBIs. In the circle, senior Skylar Sane will get the start. She is 10-6 with a 4.81 earned run average in 17 games. She has 116 strikeouts to 85 walks in 84 1/3 innings. In a 5-2 win over Maplewood to win a district title on May 24, Sane allowed two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks in seven innings. Also in the victory, Williams was 3 for 4 with a two-run inside-the-park HR, while Nevaeah Reyes, another freshman, was 2 for 3. Presot was also 2 for 4 with a double. Cuyahoga Heights' also has an interesting schedule. Aside from its three tournament wins, Heights played just one Div. VII school this spring. The Wolves faced more Div. II programs than any, with five games against teams like Lakewood, Olmsted Falls and Twinsburg. Heights also played Div. III Westlake, three Div. IV teams and three Div. VI teams. Along with the win over Maplewood (21-5), among its top opponents was setbacks against Independence (19-6) and Columbia (18-7). The Red Wolves' program is no stranger to tournament success. They won the Division IV state championship in 2014. Heights returned to the state semifinals in 2015 and were state runners-ups in 2021. Meanwhile, Monroeville is in its own impressive run. The Eagles are 91-22 over the past four seasons with three Firelands Conference titles, two district championships, and last season's regional and state runners-up trophies. The deep Monroeville lineup is anchored by senior Taryn Tyler. She is batting .567 with 16 doubles, two triples, two home runs and has drove in an impressive 50 while scoring 49 times. Sophomore Payton Weilnau is batting .450 with six doubles, four triples, 22 RBIs and has scored 37 times and stolen 16 bases. Senior Avery Rosser hits .482 with six doubles and 27 RBIs, while junior Madi Reiber (.425) adds 11 doubles, four triples, three home runs and has driven in 45. Also for the Eagles, senior Veanna bats .392 with six doubles, one triple and 15 RBIs. She adds 27 walks and 42 runs from the leadoff position. Sophomore Genna Bragg hits .368 with two doubles and 23 RBIs, and classmate Taylor Scheid (.338) has four doubles, two triples and 18 RBIs. Helmstetter is 20-1 with a 1.25 ERA in the circle, with an impressive 145 strikeouts to just 18 walks in 117 2/3 innings. Weilnau is 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA and 64 strikeouts to 10 walks in 32 2/3 innings. Under head coach Abe Helmstetter, the Eagles also won a district title in 2019 when they beat McDonald and lost to Hillsdale in the regional title game. Last season, Monroeville beat Montpelier and Carey to win the program's first regional title. The Eagles then beat the same Mathews that will play in the first game Wednesday, 5-3, in a state semifinal before falling to Strasburg-Franklin in the championship game. Mathews brought back every player who was in the lineup and saw action against Monroeville last season in the state semifinal loss. That includes senior pitcher Olivia Matheny, who allowed one hit in six scoreless innings of a 10-0 district title win over Kinsman Badger on May 24. The Mustangs have won five straight district championships. Chalker is led by Tatum Hudak, who is batting .579 with nine doubles, three home runs and 27 RBIs. She is also the starting pitcher and carries a 2.44 ERA in 13 games with 115 strikeouts and 26 walks in 63 innings.