Softball: Prairie Ridge beats Cary-Grove for 3rd time, wins 3rd straight regional
As the Prairie Ridge softball team prepared for the Class 3A Prairie Ridge regional championship game Friday against district rival Cary-Grove, the Wolves knew it would take strong pitching, timely hitting and tight defense to knock off the Trojans for a third time this season.
“We knew coming in that Cary-Grove is too good of a team that we couldn’t make mistakes,” Prairie Ridge coach Scott Busam said. “We knew that if we had the pitching, if we could get the bats going and, most importantly, play clean defense, that we’d be there at the end of the game.”
The top-seeded Wolves took the message to heart, and all three phases did indeed play a part in their 7-0 victory over the Trojans. Prairie Ridge (21-7), last year’s Class 3A third-place finisher, has now won three regional titles in a row.
In the circle, Wolves senior pitcher Reese Mosolino was dominate. The right-hander and Indiana commit limited the Trojans to one hit, allowing a total of two baserunners with 10 strikeouts in her dazzling performance.
Mosolino knew early in the game that she could rely on her full arsenal of pitches, no matter the count or situation, but one pitch in particular was extremely effective.
“My drop ball was really working today, that felt really good. It was hitting the outside corner and that was my go-to pitch today,” Mosolino said.
Cary-Grove coach Cara Neff noticed the same thing.
“You’ve got to give it to Reese, just a very impressive pitcher. We had trouble adjusting to her low and outside pitches and she made it tough for us all game,” Neff said.
At the plate for Prairie Ridge, first baseman Mary-Kate Center had the biggest impact, going 3 for 3 with a double, two singles, two RBI and a run scored.
“M-K is a quiet catalyst on our team, and she came through when we needed her the most today. She started rallies, and she just had a spectacular game today,” Busam said.
The Wolves jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Morgan Powal’s single scored Center. In the third inning, Prairie Ridge sent eight batters to the plate with Kylie Rosene, Kylie Carroll, Parker Frey and Bella Moore each scoring to stretch the lead to 5-0.
The Wolves added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to complete the scoring. Moore and Carroll got on base two times each for the game, with Moore scoring two runs.
For C-G (10-22), Taylor Allen had a hit and got on base twice for the Trojans. Pitcher Paityn Ahlquist had seven strikeouts.
“Making it to the regional championship is something that we can be proud of. PR is a really good team, we just didn’t execute today,” Neff said.
Prairie Ridge now advances to the Belvidere North sectional on Tuesday, an opportunity they welcome.
“We are feeling pretty strong, pretty confident overall with the level we’re playing at right now and we’re looking forward moving on to the sectional,” Carter said.