Ottumwa -- Lindsay Diehl, a former All-American softball player at Indian Hills, is returning to IHCC as the head softball coach. Diehl comes back to lead the Warrior program after coaching stints at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge and Clarke High School in Osceola.
Over the past seven years Diehl's Clarke teams compiled an overall record of 154-89, winning four South Central Conference championships and making three appearances in the state tournament. They won the Class 3A state title in 2014 after losing in the championship game the year before. Diehl was named the district coach of the year three times. This year's squad bowed out of the postseason Monday, losing to Atlantic in the regional title game to finish with a 17-13 record.
Diehl graduated from Clarke and was recruited by Indian Hills, playing for the Warriors in the 2001 and '02 seasons. As a sophomore she earned third-team All-American, first-team all-region and Academic All-American honors after batting .407 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs. She also had a 33-game hitting streak that season. Her freshman year batting average was .337.
Leaving Indian Hills with an associates degree Diehl went to Western Illinois University where she played softball and earned a bachelor of science degree.
The new IHCC coach started her coaching career by serving as an assistant at Clarke while she was still in college and then spent four years as the assistant softball coach and associate housing director at Iowa Central. She also taught K-6 physical education in the Clarke Community School District in addition to her coaching duties since 2011.
Diehl will succeed Laura North at the helm of the Warrior program. North left after four very successful seasons in which the Warriors were 152-60, won four straight conference regular-season and postseason crowns and made back-to-back national tournament trips in 2016 and '17. Vanessa Bakley, a first-team all-region member of last year's IHCC team, played for Diehl at Clarke and will be one of the returners on her first Indian Hills team.