Softball: Prairie Ridge executes in key spots, ousts Geneva

Prairie Ridge put six runners on base through the first four innings against Geneva pitcher Madison Gates, but the Wolves couldn’t quite find that one big hit to swing momentum their way.

Until the fifth.

Senior Emma Dallas and junior Mary-Kate Center both came through with two-out, run-scoring hits, giving Prairie Ridge its first lead, and senior Reese Mosolino shut down the Vikings the rest of the way for a 3-1 victory in the teams’ Class 3A Belvidere North Sectional softball semifinal on Tuesday in Belvidere.

The top-seeded Wolves (22-7) move on to meet the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between No. 2 Woodstock North and No. 3 Kaneland for the sectional title at 5 p.m. Friday.

Prairie Ridge, last year’s Class 3A third-place finisher, has never won back-to-back sectional titles before.

“I’m super excited,” said junior shortstop Kylie Carroll, the Wolves’ leadoff hitter who went 2 for 3 with two runs scored. “Honestly going into this season, I didn’t know what the talent would be, but our team definitely showed up. Playing with my sister (2025 starting catcher Kendra Carroll) last year was pretty good, but this group of girls is one of my favorites.

“I’m super happy to get another game with them.”

Mosolino, an Indiana commit and last year’s Northwest Herald Softball Player of the Year, allowed a run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Geneva No. 9 hitter Maddie Parsons, one of five seniors for the Vikings, battled back from an 0-2 count in the second inning against Mosolino and delivered a two-out single into left field to score Megan O’Connor from second base and give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

“She was kind of moving in and out, in and out, and I knew if I picked one or the other, I would eventually hit it,” said Parsons, who had two of the Vikings’ three hits against Mosolino. “It felt good, especially being my last game. It meant a lot to me to be able to perform and put everything together that I’ve worked on over the past four years.”

Despite only getting three hits, Geneva reached base on three walks and a hit-by-pitch against Mosolino. Trailing 2-1, the Vikings had runners on second and third base with one out in the sixth but were unable to push across any runs.

Mosolino battled back from a 3-1 count against Clara Lyons for a strikeout and retired the next batter on a groundout to first base.

“When she needs her best stuff, she just always finds a way to dig deep and get it,” Prairie Ridge coach Scott Busam said of his ace Mosolino. “That was a big moment. We didn’t want to walk the bases loaded there.”

Geneva coach Kaleigh O’Brien, a 2017 Prairie Ridge graduate, is well aware of how difficult an at-bat against Mosolino can be.

“I grew up in the area, so I’ve seen Reese since she was a little baby all the way up until now,” O’Brien said. “She’s a great kid. a phenomenal pitcher. We knew what we were coming into and I felt like our kids did a great job of putting together decent at-bats. ... It’s softball. One pitch changes the game and unfortunately all those pitches went their way.”

Dallas’ two-out RBI base hit in the fifth scored scored Carroll from second base, and Center followed with a two-out RBI to bring home Bella Moore, who was intentionally walked with one out for the Wolves’ first lead.

“I was just thinking a base hit scores,” Dallas said of her single against Gates. “I was early on the one pitch I swung at and I thought they were gonna throw a changeup. I just took it up the middle, just wanted to get Kylie home.

“We were trying to let the ball travel, let the ball get deep and hit it hard. Not in the air, but line drives.”

Gates tossed all seven innings for the Vikings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts. She gave up an unearned run in the sixth after a pair of throwing errors by Geneva (11-20).

The Vikings, seeded fourth despite their record, entered Tuesday with their first two-game winning streak. Geneva won its first regional championship since 2019.

“I feel like everyone grew a lot, and I’m just really proud of our team,” Gates said. “I felt like I was able to count on my defense behind me all year, and my coaches really believed in me.”