Final four is familiar four

Lauren Reinagel vs. Haley Pypes:~ Notre Dame and Platte County will meet for the third straight year in the Class 3 final four

Round III.

Notre Dame and Platte County will square off at the Class 3 softball final four for the third consecutive time at 11:30 a.m. today at the Heritage Park softball complex in St. Joseph, Mo.

"I don't think either of us are going to throw any secrets out there at each other," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "We know what they're going to do and what their pitcher has, and I'm sure they feel the same way about us. It's kind of interesting that all four teams are back, the same teams that were there last year."

Kirksville plays Republic in the other semifinal. The two semifinal winners play for the title at 1 p.m. Saturday, while the losers play at noon Saturday.

Reinagel beat Pypes and the Pirates in the 2007 third-place game, but Pypes earned revenge last year when Platte County downed Reinagel and the Bulldogs in the state championship game.

"It doesn't really matter," Reinagel said of facing Platte County for the third time. "Either way, they're the team we have to play. I'm really not nervous. I have full confidence in my team. If we can't do it, we can never do it."

Notre Dame senior Brooke Glastetter said the Bulldogs were excited to hear they'd get a rematch with the Pirates.

"We talked about it as soon as we were on the bus after quarterfinals," Glastetter said. "We found out we were going to play Platte County and we were like, that's awesome. It gives us that little extra drive."

Reinagel threw a two-hitter in the 2007 third-place game. She struck out 11 and allowed one unearned run in the Bulldogs' 2-1 victory. Pypes gave up two earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

The Pirates roughed up Reinagel last year, scoring seven runs, five earned, on seven hits. Pypes allowed three hits and struck out 10 in her team's 7-1 win. That loss came a day after Reinagel threw 13 innings in the semifinals.

Pypes posted a 14-6 record with a 0.50 ERA and 179 strikeouts in 126 1/3 innings this season. The Bulldogs agreed that her best pitch is her riseball. Notre Dame catcher Alecia Glaus said the key to hitting it is to lay off the ones up and out of the zone.

"You've got to keep your hands up and not drop your hands," she said. "Mostly you've got to keep your hands up."

Reinagel boasts equally impressive numbers this season. She's 25-2 with a 0.68 ERA and 233 strikeouts in 144 innings.

Both teams enter with potent offenses. The Pirates batted .317, led by junior second baseman Cacy Williams' .538 average in 65 at-bats. Senior catcher Brianna Corwin is batting .500 in 64 at-bats, while Pypes comes in at .403. The Pirates (24-7) were shut out three times this season.

Notre Dame batted .365 and scored 246 runs in 30 games, an 8.2 average. Senior Mallory Siebert leads the Bulldogs with a .485 average, followed by Jane Morrill (.465), Brianne Sanders (.455) and Glaus (.400).

Notre Dame mixes speed and power. The Bulldogs blasted 15 home runs (Morrill hit six and Reinagel five) and stole 119 bases (Sanders swiped 29 and Glaus stole 24).

Morrill, who bats third, was the Bulldogs' main run producer. She drove in 39, while Reinagel knocked in 29.

Graviett, who won a state title in June with the baseball team, said he'll stick with a healthy dose of bunting, slap hitting and aggressive baserunning. He thinks that's the best strategy for success at the final four.

"A lot of people don't understand, when you get to this point, it has a lot to do with how it bounces, how the ball falls and breaks you get and breaks you create for yourself and how errorless you can play defensively," he said. "Sometimes it can be nervewracking, but I think the more I've seen it, it relaxes you because the only thing you can do as a coach is try to invoke some of that pressure. Try to put runners in motion and try to create some havoc with bunts.

"These are high school girls and they will make mistakes with the ball. ... That's how you create breaks."