ND tries to repeat as state champs at Class 3 final four

Notre Dame boasts four consecutive trips to the final four, which resulted in a state title, a second and a third.

The reigning Class 3 state champion Bulldogs hope that experience pays off against Nevada in today's 10 a.m. semifinal at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield, Mo.

"They are kind of in unchartered territory and we're hoping to take our experience and for that to be our edge this weekend," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said.

Nevada (21-5) never had won a sectional softball game before it defeated Carl Junction 4-0 this season. So even though only four of the Bulldogs' starters played in last year's state title game, Graviett said most of his players know the emotions that come with playing at the final four.

"You go through some of emotions even though you don't get onto the field," Graviett said. "Some of these girls like Summer Burger and Brianne Sanders were around their freshman year and saw the nerves play in and us get second because they were so nervous. You've got to control that and deal with that."

Notre Dame pitcher Katie Bond didn't get into the state title game last season, but she was warming up in the seventh inning. Bulldogs ace Lauren Reinagel got hit on her pitching hand by a comebacker and it was uncertain if Reinagel would be able to pitch the seventh inning. Graviett told Bond to get ready to pitch.

It turned out that Reinagel did manage to pitch the seventh inning and complete her perfect game, but just warming up helped Bond prepare for this year's final four.

"It prepared me a lot when I was warming up," Bond said. "It got my nerves out and how the feeling was to be able to pitch."

Bond enters today's game with a 1.02 ERA. She's struck out 110 over 164 innings.

"She's been our horse all year long," Graviett said. "She's been put in those situations. ... She's a bulldog and pitched all summer with pretty much this whole bunch. She doesn't show a lot of nerves and a lot of emotions."

The Bulldogs recently have gained confidence in their offense's ability to erase early deficits. Notre Dame fell behind by a run against Lutheran South in the quarterfinals and gave up a first-inning run to Festus in the sectional round. But the Bulldogs didn't panic either time.

"We're confident that we can do it because we've been in that position plenty of times and we know what it takes," Notre Dame junior Jessica Menz said. "We have speed and we also have good power hitters. With that, we will be able to score a run."

Graviett said he's tried a different approach with his team when talking about scoring the first run. He used to emphasize the importance of scoring first before seeing that backfire at the state tournament two years ago.

"Taking second two years ago, we put so much pressure on those girls to play for that one run that when we got down one, we kind of fell apart and they had a big inning," he said. "Especially this team, we feel like we can score two or three runs off anybody. We want to keep the big inning from happening."

Menz leads Notre Dame's offensive attack with 39 RBIs and three home runs. She's scored 38 runs. Junior leadoff batter Brianne Sanders lead the team with a .530 batting average and has scored 42 times.

Four the Bulldogs' starters are batting better than .400 -- Sanders (.530), Summer Burger (.417), Savanna Ayers (.471) and Hali Rendleman (.427).

Notre Dame isn't shy about stealing bases. Sanders leads the way with 29, but Rendleman's collected 15 while Burger and Sadie Schaefer have 13 apiece.

Nevada's top pitcher is sophomore Christian Novak, who carries a 1.77 ERA with 163 strikeouts in 115 innings.

Senior outfielder Jessica Neely paces the Tigers' offense with a .558 average. She's smacked eight homers and driven in 36 runs. Nikki O'Bryan (.411) and Olivia Culbertson (.430) are the only other regulars batting better than .400. The Tigers, who average 8.1 runs per game, only have stolen 23 bases this season.

The winner of today's semifinal will face the winner of Kirksville vs. Boonville in Saturday's 10 a.m. championship game. The losers of the two semifinals will square off at 1 p.m. today for third place.

"I was on the bench last year during state and I saw all the excitement," Menz said. "I couldn't wait for the next year because I wanted to do it with me out there. That was my motivation this year."