The Bureau Valley Storm are going to need Mallory Maubach to have a good season in the circle if they’re going to be successful this year.

And she was good Monday.

The junior hurler tossed a three-hit shutout, pitching the Storm to a 4-0 win over Hall in the 2026 season opener in Manlius.

Maubach knows the Storm will be counting on her heavily this season and she’s up for the challenge.

“Makes me push harder,” she said.

Maubach said having senior catcher Emily Wright makes her job easier.

“I love her. She’s so amazing. She’s just very genuine and I have a lot of confidence in her,” she said. “Knowing that Emily has my back made me comfortable and also knowing my team had my back.”

The Storm gave Maubach all the runs she needed in the third inning, scoring three runs on three hits.

Wright led off with a double against Hall pitcher Maddie Krewer, advancing to third on an error. She scored on RBI grounder by Kloey Trujillo. Abby Jamison reached on an infield single and swiped second, scoring on a double by Danicka Benavidez to center. Benavidez raced home on wild pitch to make it 3-0.

In the fifth, Wright started another Storm rally with a leadoff walk. Trujillo reached the hard way on a hit by pitch. Benavidez followed with a one-hit infield hit and Maubach brought Wright home on a fielder’s choice to make it 4-0.

Benavidez led the Storm at the plate with a 3 for 3 game and two RBIs. Wright added two hits.

Krewer took the loss for Hall, allowing seven hits and five walks with eight strikeouts.

Maubach threw three no-hit innings before Caroline Morris’ pop up single that fell untouched just out of the circle. Maubach wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning, finishing with three strikeouts with no walks.

“We are going to depend on her as our anchor on the mound. She’s been waiting and wanting this since her freshman year,” BV coach Dave Shepard said.

Shepard said it was a nice way to start the season, coming a week earlier with the IHSA’s early start this spring.

“As a coach, you’re always thinking when are you going to get that first win and you hope it’s right off the bat,” he said. “I thought the girls played really well. Before the game, we talked, let’s see what we need to work on because we have a full week now before our next game.

“Hall’s a much more competitive team. We’ll get to see them once or twice more.”

Hall coach Ellie Herrmann said it proved to be a typical first game.

“We should’ve been putting balls in play left and right tonight, and we just weren’t ready at the plate,” she said. “There are a lot of things we’ll be drilling hard on for the rest of this week’s practices. We can’t have the silly errors we had. We can’t expect to win games playing like that, but the good news is I know we can play better than that. We’ll need to move on from that and work out those kinks.”

She was quite pleased with her three freshmen starters - Krewer, catcher Bernie Larson and second baseman Aubrie Pellegrini.

“For the most part, Maddie made all of her pitch calls. She’s where we want her to be right now, and is only going to keep getting better,” Herrmann said. “Her partner in crime, Bernie, played tough behind the plate, caught a girl stealing. They’re a really fun pitcher/catcher duo.

“Aubrie made some good plays at second base and had a beautiful base hit up the middle. Those were all the highlights of our game, and the freshmen should be proud and excited about how they performed.”

Shepard was pleased to be able to get 12 different girls at-bats, including his three freshmen.

“They’re (the freshmen) going to play game time roles. Keeping everybody involved is going to be our key to success,” he said. “Just keeping everybody wanting to play. Wanting to show up for practice. Wanting to get better. Rather than worrying necessarily about the best players. We have to worry about every player because we only have 16.”

The Storm will have eight days between games, playing next on Tuesday, March 17 at Rock Falls.