No sweat - ND marches on

After a nerve-rattling, come-from-behind, 10-inning victory in its district championship game this past weekend, Notre Dame placed a special order Wednesday against Festus:

Sectional victory, please. Oh, and hold the suspense.

To the Bulldogs' delight, a surprisingly easy 6-0 victory, complete with a four-run first inning, was waiting at the window.

Notre Dame (21-6) took advantage of a shaky Festus start and followed up with one of its most complete games of the season.

Sarah Michel and Ashley Reinagel delivered two-run, bases-loaded singles in the top of the first inning and the Bulldogs put the clamps on the Tiger offense with the four-hit pitching of Lindsay Reinagel and error-free defense.

The victory moved Notre Dame into the quarterfinals, where it will face the Lutheran South at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Ballwin Athletic Complex near St. Louis. Lutheran Louth advanced with a 2-1 victory over Owensville.

"I think this was one of our best games," Lindsay Reinagel said. "This game and district, we really came together at the end of the year."

Reinagel (19-5), using an effective changeup, struck out seven Tigers and did not allow a runner to reach second base until the last inning. She welcomed the path of least resistance the Bulldogs took against Festus, which came into the game with an identical 20-6 record.

With its season on the line Saturday, the Bulldogs spotted Windsor a 4-0 lead before rallying to a 5-5 tie. They then had to weather three extra innings as the visitor.

"It was intense," Reinagel said "Very intense."

"It's so much nicer to be ahead for a change," Notre Dame coach Chris Janet said. "You don't like to live dangerously like we did over the weekend. It was nice to get that lead early."

Janet said his team was tight in the district championship game with the pressure of the top seed and expectations to win.

"I could see it in pregame today compared to pregame the other day that we were much more relaxed and just came out and played softball," he said.

The Bulldogs let Festus deal with the nerves.

Tiger pitcher Ashley Lewis retired the first batter, but then issued three straight walks to load the bases.

Michel came to the plate, not looking for a walk, but intent on carrying out her coach's pre-game orders.

"He said go out there and hit the ball," Michel said. "I always listen to coach."

Michel, who went 2-for-4, lined Lewis' first pitch down the left field line to score Laura Weissmueller and Whitney Ostendorf.

Sarah Berkbigler's bloop single behind third reloaded the bases and Ashley Reinagel followed with a sharp single off the first baseman's glove to up the lead to 4-0.

"You could see it kind of melt Festus," Janet said. "Their pitcher was kind of nervous and struggling with her control."

"I think we showed a little inexperience," Festus coach Jeff Montgomery said. "Notre Dame looked like they'd been there before. Hopefully we'll learn from it."

Ashley Reinagel also went 2-for-4 and had three RBIs. Berkbigler was 3-for-4 and Alana Weissmueller was 2-for-4. Notre Dame had at least one hit in every inning and had 12 hits overall. All but two starters had hits.

"We are a good hitting squad," Ashley Reinagel said. "We have a very good lineup. We hit from top to bottom."

Notre Dame added single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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