Father called pitches during daughter's perfect game

Notre Dame pitcher Lauren Reinagel throws one in to the plate during the championship game Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Lauren Reinagel and her father, assistant coach Ray Reinagel, were the last two Notre Dame team members to make it to the bus after Saturday's victory in the Class 3 state championship game.

Lauren clung to the game ball as she walked toward the bus, side by side with her father. Her high school career had just ended in fairytale fashion.

She threw a perfect game and hit the game-winning home run in the state title game. Dreams rarely go that well.

And she got to share it with her father, who helped spark her interest and the interest of some of her teammates in the game while growing up. He worked with them before they started at Notre Dame then continued sharing his passion and knowledge as an assistant with the Bulldogs.

"To see you can take something that you've loved and give it to them, that's why I do this," he said. "If I didn't have to make a living, this is what I would be doing."

Ray played a special role Saturday as he called the pitches during his daughter's perfect game. It's a task he's filled for many years.

"It kind of got a little tricky because they started to get on her changeup a little bit," he said of the Kirksville batters. "I was kind of forced to get away from that because you didn't want to lose a no-hitter, you didn't want to lose a perfect game on a secondary pitch. They were making some good cuts, so we just went with her best pitch and went in and out, and it worked out."

Lauren might not have known she had a perfect game going, but her father did. He wanted to give her every opportunity to finish it. The former catcher looked calm as he flashed the signs to Bulldogs catcher Alecia Glaus, who he called one of the best in Missouri, from the side of the Bulldogs' dugout. Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett was walking in small circles while Ray coyly flashed signs for pitches. He admitted appearances can be deceiving as butterflies overtook his stomach.

Ray's younger daughter looked just as collected as her old man on the mound, which was a change from past seasons. Lauren pitched well as a senior, but her numbers didn't match her previous two seasons. Graviett said he noticed a difference at the beginning of the season.

"She wasn't as fine-tuned coming in," he said. "She battled and got better as the year went along. She came out today and wasn't going to be denied on any aspect."

Reinagel pitched with a different attitude this season. In past years, if a team scored a run, she didn't always handle it well. But that changed this year.

"I don't care if they score runs just as long as we score more," Reinagel said after her team's 13-4 win against De Soto in the sectionals. "My ERA, I'm not worried about that. I have all the records. I'm not worried about that anymore. Now I'm just worried about winning."

Graviett mentioned her maturity and the strides she'd made since last season after Friday's semifinal win against Platte County. Reinagel allowed a two-run homer in that game and he went to the mound after it. But he didn't stay long.

"She shook it off and knew we were up two runs," Graviett said after Friday's win. "Last year, that would have got to her and it would have been different."

Lauren always went out of her way during her senior season to mention her teammates. She even deflected praise to her teammates after pitching a perfect game Saturday. She talked about how much she enjoyed sharing the experience with them and how it was sweeter because of them.

"I stopped concentrating on myself and I started concentrating on the team," she said. "It helped. It made me focus more for them. I didn't care about anything else. I really wanted it for us, to finally go down in history that softball had a state champion."

After she was finished with a postgame interview on the radio, she ran toward her teammates and buried her head against fellow senior Mallory Siebert as they embraced in a hug.

Reinagel has been the most dominant pitcher in Southeast Missouri over the last three years, and Saturday's game was a fitting end to her high school career. And after she thanked her teammates for all their help, there was one more person she wanted to thank. She wanted to say thanks to the person who ignited her passion for softball.

"None of these other girls have gotten the experience I've had with my dad," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "I've been with him every step of the way. He's been with me, guiding me, telling me what to do. I owe everything to my dad."

Kevin Winters Morriss is sports editor of the Southeast Missourian. You can reach him at kmorriss@semissourian.com.