MONROE — Renee Schuttler's accomplishment left the Monroe senior in disbelief.

"I thought it was just another pop-up, as usual," Schuttler said. "But it just kept going farther and farther. I was pretty surprised when it went over the fence.

"I've hit home runs before, but never against Verona. A home run against Verona is amazing."

Schuttler's two-out, two-run homer in the first inning gave Monroe a quick 2-0 lead, and first baseman Gwen Sutter broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth with an RBI double as the Cheesemakers tightened their grip on the Southern Badger Conference with a 3-2 win over Verona on Thursday afternoon at Twining Park.

The victory was the second this season by Monroe (12-2, 7-1 Southern Badger) over Verona (6-3, 6-3) and put a crimp in the Wildcats' hopes for a 12th straight conference title.

It put the Cheesemakers in prime position to interrupt the streak.

"That home run she hit in the first was crushed. You don't see too many softballs hit like that," Monroe coach Dale Buvid said of the shot by Schuttler, who also was the winning pitcher. "But we're ecstatic because we have a (game-and-a-half) lead with four to go."

Monroe opened the scoring with two outs in the first. Emily Rufenacht singled in front of Schuttler, who deposited a 1-0 pitch from Verona right-hander Bev Nordin deep over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Nordin entered having pitched 17 innings the previous two days.

The Wildcats answered in the top of the second thanks to three Schuttler walks, the last of which forced in Cherise Decorah.

Schuttler escaped further damage when she got Julia Burns to ground out to third.

The Wildcats tied the score, however, in the fifth when Burns tripled and scored on a RBI groundout by Katelynn Kermicle. But that was it for Verona.

"We were here to win, we just couldn't pull it out," Verona third baseman Kirsten Brose said.

In the bottom of the fifth, Schuttler singled up the middle and later scored from first when Sutter jumped on the first offering from Nordin and sent it into the right-center field gap.

"Coach told me to go hit like I had been in warm-ups," Sutter said. "So I did."