Reinhardt sweeps Columbia in road doubleheader with two shutouts

Columbia, SC. - Reinhardt opened its road doubleheader at Columbia with an early five-run burst, then finished the day behind another clean pitching effort, sweeping Columbia College 8-0 in five innings and 3-0 on Thursday in Columbia, South Carolina.

The decisive stretch of the opener came in the second inning, when the Eagles sent five runs across to take control. Kylie Freije doubled to spark the inning, Molly Stevens added a single, and Hallee Shirley followed with an RBI single as Reinhardt built a 5-0 lead. Izzy Forestier also drew a walk in the rally, and Emma Scott lifted a sacrifice fly as the inning kept moving. Reinhardt added two more runs in the fourth, getting run-scoring singles from Emily Pettit and Stevens, then pushed across one more in the fifth on an unearned run with Eryn Lee recording a sacrifice fly.

The Eagles backed that offense with a combined one-hit shutout. Anslie Pettit started and worked three scoreless innings, allowing no hits while striking out four on 32 pitches. Macy Langley finished the final two innings to complete the shutout. Reinhardt totaled 11 hits, stole seven bases and did not strike out in 24 at-bats. Shirley led the way with three hits, one RBI and two stolen bases, while Stevens had two hits, one RBI and one run scored. Ansley Hight also finished with two hits and an RBI. Columbia committed three errors and managed its only hit of the game in the five-inning loss.

Game 2 turned into a tighter contest, but Reinhardt again found the key swings in the middle innings. The Eagles broke the scoreless tie in the third when Emily Pettit brought home Eryn Lee on a fielder's choice for a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Shallyn Olszowy lined an RBI single and Taylor Wade followed with an RBI double, stretching the advantage to 3-0.

That was more than enough for Reinhardt's pitching staff. Langley started the second game and threw four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. Pettit took over in relief and closed out the final three innings, giving up one hit and striking out five. Together, the pair limited Columbia to three hits and no walks in the seven-inning shutout. Stevens paced the offense with two hits, including a double, and also drew two walks. Wade's double drove in a run, and Reinhardt finished with seven hits, six walks and three stolen bases.

The sweep gave Reinhardt two shutouts in the same afternoon and improved the day with crisp run prevention in both games. In all, the Eagles allowed just four hits across 12 innings. The second game ended with Pettit finishing off the final three scoreless innings as Reinhardt completed the doubleheader sweep.