Pitchers leave hitters shaking their heads in Class 3 sectional

~ Notre Dame's Lauren Reinagel struck out 10 to improve to 26-0.

1-0?

While De Soto senior Kaitlyn Hasty and Notre Dame sophomore Lauren Reinagel have been shut-down pitchers for their respective teams, hitters probably left Wednesday's Class 3 sectional contest at Park Hills bewildered rather than overwhelmed.

"That's the most frustrated our hitters have been all year long," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said after his team came out on the winning end despite getting fewer hits, 4-2.

"I think both pitchers, they're not pitchers you look at and can see the velocity and be impressed," Graviett added. "But there's a lot of movement on their pitches, and you can see the hitters trying to make adjustments."

Some of Notre Dame's batters had seen Hasty before, when they scored six runs against her but lost 7-6 in last year's sectional contest.

She entered Wednesday's game with a 0.60 ERA.

"She's the best pitcher we've faced so far," said junior Britney Schott, whose single in the sixth inning scored the game's only run.

Notre Dame's Reinagel came in with a 26-0 record and four no-hitters in her last five games. She allowed four hits -- three to the same batter and never more than one in an inning -- and struck out 10.

She left the Dragons scratching their heads.

"She threw the ball up, and it seems like we swung a lot," De Soto coach Dave Guemmer said. "It must look like a good pitch and then it's over your hands. We had more bad swings than I've seen in a long time."

Reinagel said she throws a natural riseball.

"The high one would really get some of them," Reinagel said. "I thought I pitched pretty good up until the fifth inning."

Reinagel allowed only two baserunners over the first four frames, when she had seven strikeouts. But she had to work around four baserunners -- an error, two walks and a hit -- to get through the fifth unscathed.

While shutouts are common this season for Reinagel, she admitted to facing more nervousness than usual.

"I was really nervous," Reinagel said. "I didn't know what they had [back in their lineup]."

"That kind of shocked me today," Graviett said of Reinagel's nerves. "What we talk about a lot is turning those nerves into excitement, and that's when you can thrive in athletics."

Graviett had to pay a visit to his ace when she walked two batters in that fifth inning, before giving up a hit that ended the threat when Erika Reinagel threw out a runner at the plate for the final out.

"I just wanted to keep her confident and make her aware of the situation," Graviett said. "She bounced back well.

"She's done a tremendous job all year."

You can measure that tremendous by her record: 26-0.