Monroeville spoils Mapleton's unblemished Firelands Conference season

MONROEVILLE - Having clinched at least a share of the Firelands Conference title on Saturday thanks to a win over Western Reserve and a simultaneous shock Monroeville loss to Crestview, Mapleton wanted to run the table to put an emphatic stamp on what would be the program's first outright league title in two decades. Monday night the Mounties had the opportunity to take one big step toward that goal but ultimately had the proverbial rug snatched from beneath their feet in a 6-4 loss to the Eagles for their first Firelands Conference loss of the season. "Hopefully it's a good learning experience and they learn that we can't wait until the fifth inning to start hitting," Mapleton coach Mike Leibolt said.

"We'll see how they bounce back ... I think that's going to be a good thing for us. " For just the second time this season the Mounties were shutout in the first four innings of play, largely in part due to the stellar pitching from Monroeville's Payton Weilnau who struck out 14 on the night.

"She has good movement," Leibolt said. "Once we started to hit her, we hit it really well. We just came up a little short, they played better than us today.

" The Eagles jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Mapleton finally found a run in the fifth when Kendall Ramey (1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB) drove in Aubree Hess (1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB). But Monroeville would immediately respond in the bottom and push the advantage back to five. Mountie bats came alive in the sixth, though, nearly batting through the order after opening with back-to-back singles before scoring a trio of runs on a fielding error in centerfield then tacking on a fourth on a hard-hit Hess single through the second basemen's legs.