Another Day of Shutout Softball for the Eagles

Another Day of Shutout Softball for the Eagles
Box Score Box Score
April 19, 2023

Laurinburg, NC - The Eagles are quietly putting together a historical regular season.  On Tuesday's doubleheader with St. Andrews, the team has wrapped up the AAC regular season lead, however, they still have one series left with CIU on Wednesday to make it official. 

The Eagles won both games against St. Andrews without allowing a run. Game one was 9-0 for the Eagles and game two was 4-0. The wins put Reinhardt alone at the top of the standings with a 24-2 conference record and they are 29-9 overall. With two wins at CIU on Wednesday, the Eagles should be crowned AAC Regular Season Champions. They will need to work their way through the AAC Tournament (April 25th - 29th in Kingsport, TN), which happens next week and then they can start looking at the NAIA National Tournament.

The NAIA rankings just came out on Wednesday morning and somehow the Eagles are still sitting outside the Top 25, however, the team does not let this get to them and they just keep winning for Coach Dewes and Coach Rich.

Game One:

Ally Andriano got the start in game one for the Eagles and she pitched an incredible game striking out five batters and only allowing two hits in the shutout game (five innings). Andriano is having another solid season for the Eagles coming off the 2022 season where she led the Eagles in wins. The cobination of Andriano and Shepherd makes the Eagles one of the top pitching duos in the AAC.

Reinhardt Pitching vs St. Andrews (Game One)

PITCHERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Ally Andriano (W, 1-0) 5.0 2 0 0 2 5 0
Totals 5.0 2 0 0 2 5 0

Offensively, the Eagles picked up runs in the first, second, and fourth innings to get their nine total runs. The second and fourth were their big run innings as they would score four in the second and three in the fourth.  Kylie Freije tripled in the first which scored Emily Loveless and Freije was later brought home on a single by Taylor Wade.

In the second, Alexis Teems, Freije, and Molly Stevens all singled to score the four runs. In the fourth, Stevens singled to score Freije and Hannah Kate Singleton doubled to score Kyra Lightner and Taylor Wade. Overall, the Eagles had 13 hits total in the 9-0 victory.

Batting Highlights vs St. Andrews (Game One)

 
 
Game Two:
In game two, the bats would cool off slightly as they would only get four runs, however, the Eagles still got ten hits. Reinhardt picked up single runs in the first, fourth, fifth, and seventh. Molly Stevens would continue her hot streak at the plate for the Eagles getting the big hit in the game. Stevens had a double in the fifth inning to score Emily Loveless. Alexis Griffith singled in the fourth inning which scored Stevens. Loveless would get the final run of the game in the seventh on a single by Kyra Lightner.
 
Batting Highlights vs St. Andrews (Game Two)
 
Whitney Shepherd got the start in game two for the Eagles and she has led the team all season long, but on Tuesday's game, she was outstanding. She pitched the complete game striking out 7 batters and zero runs and only allowed 2 hits. Somehow, she has not been selected as Pitcher of the Week for the AAC - but these numbers should get her the in the running this week. There are not many better pitchers in the AAC this season.
 

Reinhardt Pitching vs St. Andrews (Game Two)

PITCHERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Whitney Shepherd (W, 1-0) 7.0 2 0 0 0 7 0
Totals 7.0 2 0 0 0 7 0
 
The Eagles will wrap up their regular season on Wednesday in Columbia, SC - which is a make-up game from this past Saturday at Ken White Field. The Eagles will have the weekend to rest and prepare for the AAC Tournament next week as Eagle fans hope that they can sweep both the regular season and the conference title in 2023. Coach Dewes and Rich have done an outstanding job leading this fine group of young women and they are a team that can really make some noise both at the conference tournament and nationally at the NAIA tournament.