ND ace Reinagel packs new attitude for final four

Notre Dame junior Lauren Reinagel plans to approach today's Class 3 softball state semifinal with a different attitude than she did last year's semifinal.

"I wanted to win it for our seniors last year," she said. "I still do, but I kind of want to win it for myself too. I just want to go do it really bad."

Reinagel, the team's ace pitcher, will play a pivotal role in the team's success. She's thrown nine no-hitters this season, and through 25 games, she went 24-0 with a 0.10 ERA with 217 strikeouts in 143 innings. She's 54-1 as a varsity starting pitcher.

The one loss? It came in the state semifinals last year.

"I've been there before and I've kind of gotten used to it," Reinagel said. "That was my first time going last year. I was a rookie last year. I'm kind of used to it this year. I'm going to try to be not so nervous. The quarterfinal is the hard game. We're over the hard game. We just have to go do it."

Notre Dame (27-0) faces Kirksville (24-4) at 1:30 p.m. today at Heritage Park in St. Joseph in one semifinal. The other semifinal pits Republic (21-8) against Platte County (28-3).

While Reinagel's numbers are impressive, the Bulldogs' offense has posted gaudy numbers. They've scored 236 runs and collected 287 hits through 25 games. Seven of the team's regulars are batting over .400. Reinagel hopes her team's potent offense provides an early cushion today.

"That would take a whole bunch of stress off me," she said. "I would feel like the weight of the world off me. I can just go out and do my thing."

Notre Dame's offense starts with speed. Erika Reinagel and Paris Burger create chaos for the defense with their blazing speed. Both players are batting .422. Bulldogs coach Jeff Graviett said the speed this year is an improvement over last season's team.

"Our overall speed, we have a lot more speed," he said. "A lot of that is with adding Paris Burger back off of her injury and putting her back up at the top. Doing that, we're able to move Britney Schott down in the order to drive in runs where she's more set up for as a hitter than to be in that 2 hole."

Mallory Siebert leads the Bulldogs with a .558 average. Jane Morrill, Alexis Ralls and Schott are responsible for driving in the runs. The three players combined to knock in 82 runs this season.

"Come this time of year, we're going to play our game offensively," Graviett said. "That's putting runners on, moving them around however possible."

Kirksville's Jackie Bishop will be responsible for slowing down Notre Dame's offensive attack. She fared well in the quarterfinals, striking out 22 Winfield batters in a 12-inning contest. She's 20-3 with a 0.32 ERA. She's struck out 259 in 129 2/3 innings.

"They have a good pitcher, which is obvious you can see from Saturday," Graviett said of Kirksville. "We look for a pitcher, how they work it in and out and change speeds. She does both. They didn't do a lot of hitting, but Winfield looked like it had a good little pitcher. That's what you expect when you get to this time. You expect a good pitcher. You expect a couple good hitters. We didn't see a whole lot of the small ball like we play, so we couldn't tell if they have a whole lot of speed or not."

The Tigers are batting .300 as a team, led by Carrie Hudson at .440. She's the only player on the team batting over .400.

Lauren Reinagel plans to attack the Tigers and try to grab a mental edge.

"I'm going to think I'm better than anyone who steps up to the plate," she said. "I have to tell myself that they can't hit me. ... Teams are getting harder as we go. I'm just looking for a good game."