Eagles Get Even and Gain Sweep on Rio Grande (Ohio)
By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
WALESKA, Ga. – Four runs in the bottom of the first of the opening outing against Rio Grande (Ohio) on Sunday afternoon helped the Eagles get back on their feet and split the weekend series with the RedStorm, 8-0 (5 innings) and 3-1.
"It was good to see our bounce-back today after a rough day yesterday," head coach Jade Geuther said. "Our pitching staff has been great all year. It's not easy on them to never know when they are pitching because we've never had five legitimate arms, but because of their buy-in and being ready whenever they are called, we are able to match them up based on our opponent. Today, Ally and Whitney were up, and they were both outstanding.
"Our offense was great, everyone had a hit in game one, and obviously Jill's home run in game two was the difference. It's great to end the weekend on a high note and it's time to turn our attention back to conference play."
The No. 21 Eagles (12-4) pounded out 14 hits and suffocated the Rio Grande bats with only two knocks of its own to end the first matchup early. Each player that stepped into the batter's box for Reinhardt registered at least one hit – five student-athletes posted a pair – as the Eagles touched home plate in each of the first four frames.
Jill Martinet and Megan Huss each had two RBIs in the opener.
In the circle, Ally Andriano controlled the game in five innings with four strikeouts and only two hits allowed.
The RedStorm got an RBI-single in the first up the middle to get on the board early at 1-0, but a Martinet 3-run blast to right-center field in the third ended up being the game-winning hit and pushed the Eagles to the sweep at home.
From there, the Rio Grande offense was silenced without a hit after the second frame.
Andriano started and went 1.2 innings in game two before giving the ball to Whitney Shepherd, who ended up with the victory in relief after going 5.1 frames and striking out two.
It's back to Appalachian Athletic Conference foes on Tuesday on the road at Point (Ga.).
First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
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