Softball: McHenry’s Vanessa Buske tosses shutout against Prairie Ridge

CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry’s Vanessa Buske expected her innings to go up this season after her older sister, Gianna, graduated.

So far, the Warriors junior has enjoyed the extra time in the circle.

“Her and her sister have the same attitude of ‘Get out of my way because I’m coming through,’ ” Warriors coach Mikaela Mitsch said. “I think Vanessa is kind of growing up a bit this year and coming into her own. She wants it.”

Buske was on her game against Prairie Ridge, throwing a complete-game shutout in a 3-0 win for McHenry on Monday in their Fox Valley Conference game.

Buske threw one perfect inning against the Wolves, but she never looked rattled with runners on base. Buske stranded the bases loaded in the fourth inning with one out, getting a strikeout and a groundout, and had two runners on in the first and fifth innings.

“That calm demeanor is what we need from her,” Mitsch said. “We had a big conversation at the start of the year that it was going to be her and [junior Channing Keppy] pitching. She’s had a great attitude and done everything we’ve asked of her.”

“She’s just killing it.”

Buske, who allowed six hits and struck out one, said she got in a groove early.

“My drop ball was working very well today,” Buske said. “I was just trying to get some grounders to my fielders to make easy plays.”

Senior catcher Emma Stolzman said she noticed Buske throwing a little harder than usual.

“She was hitting all of her spots, which is really nice,” Stolzman said. “And she was throwing the ball very hard. A lot of those girls were just going up there and whiffing at it.”

The Warriors (10-4-1, 6-2 FVC) scored all of their runs in the top of the fourth, despite getting only one hit. Prairie Ridge (8-5, 4-3) committed three errors in the inning, including a fielding error on the first batter.

Maddie Gillund had a bases-loaded walk for the first run, followed by an RBI groundout by Tatum Kornfeind that was misplayed for an error. McHenry added its third run on a fielding error.

Prairie Ridge freshman Reese Mosolino allowed three unearned runs on two hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and five walks. She allowed one base runner in the final three innings.

“We made three errors, and we didn’t get the runners over and in,” Prairie Ridge coach Scott Busam said. “It’s just a constant reminder that we’re a young team and we have to eliminate those mistakes. [Mosolino] put together another great game. Those last three innings were clean. We had some opportunities, and I loved our plate approach today.

“We hit the ball hard, we just hit it right at people.”

The Warriors remain a game behind FVC leader Huntley, which defeated Crystal Lake Central 2-1 on Monday. Huntley beat McHenry 5-1 on April 14 in their first regular-season meeting.

Mitsch is happy with how her team is performing so far.

“I think we’re settling into the season now,” Mitsch said. “I think we’re getting to know each other a little better every day, and that’s helpful. We’re settling in and we’re getting stronger every day.”

Busam thinks his team still has another level to reach.

“We have some really talented players who can make some spectacular plays,” Busam said. “If we can start to do the little things correctly and take care of all the routine stuff, that’s when you start to do the spectacular things. We just don’t have it all happening right now.”

Mary Myers was 2 for 4 for Prairie Ridge, and Kaylee Jarrard had a double.