Story by Alfred Kojima, NAIA Media Assistant
Pictures courtesy of NAIAPictures.com

COLUMBUS, Ga. – (Box Score) Freshman pitcher Madison Luck tossed a complete-game three-hit shutout while senior Katie Rietkovich went 3-for-4 with a run scored to lead No. 5 Reinhardt (Ga.) to a 6-0 victory over No. 4 St. Gregory’s (Okla.), in the first round of the 2014 NAIA Softball World Series at the South Commons Softball Complex on Friday. The win was the 12th-straight on the season for Reinhardt.

The Eagles (45-8) move into the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination event and will meet either No. 1 LSU Alexandria (La.) or No. 8 Oklahoma City Monday at 4 p.m. EDT. The Cavaliers (51-11) will meet No. 9 Simpson (Calif.) in an elimination game Saturday at 10 a.m.

Reinhardt picked up 10 hits as a team. In addition to Rietkovich’s effort from the plate, senior C.J. Browder added two hits, while scoring three runs with an RBI.

“I’m proud of the whole team because they executed our plan.”  said Reinhardt coach Glen Crawford. “The whole plan was to get up on the plate and go with the pitches if we needed to.”

Junior Allison Eales had two of the three hits for the Cavaliers.
 
In the first inning, Browder had an RBI single and later scored on an error.

Reinhardt added two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by freshman Maddie Evans. Browder plated the fourth run via an error. The Eagles closed out the scoring with two runs in the seventh inning via an RBI single by sophomore Kaley Garmon and an RBI groundout by sophomore Katie Blair.

Reinhardt is no stranger to shutouts in the first round. Last year, the Lady Eagles blanked Saint Xavier (Ill.) by a 3-0 score in the World Series first round. Today, Luck won her 34th game of the year and kept St. Gregory’s off balance all game.

The shutout for St. Gregory’s was just the third of the year. The Cavaliers entered the contest fourth in the NAIA in runs scored (7.9).

The 34th Annual Softball World Series is a 10-team, double-elimination event hosted by the Columbus Sports Council.

For more information, including updated bracket, stats and live streaming, click here.