Ottumwa -- Seven members of the Indian Hills 2019 recruiting class were named to the All-State softball teams released by the Iowa Girls Coaching Association this week.
The future Warriors who are all-staters include first-teamers Brooke Tucker from Indianola and Peyton Moffet from Southeast Polk, second-team selections C.J. Banner of Des Moines East, Hannah Poortinga from Des Moines Hoover and Ottumwa High School grad Morgan Greiner, and Anna Voigt of Ankeny and Nicole Bellis from West Des Moines Dowling Catholic.
Tucker and Greiner both helped lead their teams to the state tournament, where the two squads faced off in the consolation bracket in Class 5A. Greiner was unable to play in the state tourney after suffering a season-ending injury at the end of the regular season.
Tucker slugged 15 home runs and knocked in 45 runs for Indianola with a .431 batting average and .862 slugging percentage. She was 3-2 with a 1.43 ERA as a pitcher with 27 of her 29 appearances in relief. As a junior, she batted .359 with seven homers and 30 RBIs and was 5-2 with a 1.17 ERA in the circle.
Moffet, also a first-team choice, hit .380 for the Rams with 49 hits that included three home runs and she had 31 RBIs. That came after a junior season when Moffet batted a team-leading .426.
Banner was a second-team pitcher on the Class 5A squad. In her senior season she was 15-9 with a 1.61 ERA and amassed 178 strikeouts in 165 innings pitched. Opponents batted only .188 against her. The Des Moines East standout also compiled a .345 batting average with nine doubles, five homers and had 41 hits. She pitched for the Scarlets varsity team for five years and had an overall record of 54-33, going 13-8 as a junior, 14-7 as a soph, 10-9 in her freshman season, and winning her only two starts as an 8th grader. In her junior campaign she had a terrific strikeout/walk ratio of 184/19.
Poortinga slammed four homers and 10 doubles for Hoover this summer and posted a .437 average with 26 RBIs. She was a four-year starter who hit .414 as a junior and .297 as a sophomore, belting three home runs both years.
Greiner finished her OHS career having started every one of the 149 games she played over four years. In her final season she batted .404 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs and had seven doubles among her 42 hits. She led the team in batting average the previous two years -- .466 as a junior and .455 the year before, while blasting a total of 15 HRs and knocking in 79 runs. Greiner started all 38 games in her freshman season.
Voigt had a solid senior campaign, batting .424 and collecting 50 hits, 34 runs scored and 37 RBIs. She was 24-for-25 in stolen base attempts and had a robust on-base percentage of .489.
Bellis also excelled as a senior for Dowling Catholic with a team-best .430 batting average, 16 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 37 runs scored. She led the Maroons in 10 offensive categories. It capped a tremendous high school career in which she batted .423 in her junior year, .350 as a soph and .486 in 18 games as a freshman.
Along with the seven all-state picks, coach Lindsay Diehl's list of incoming recruits also includes five other talented players -- Alexis Handel of Atlantic, Jalila Hart from Waterloo Columbus Catholic, Eryn Ackerman of Davenport Assumption, Ashlynn Oehlert from Clarke (Osceola) and Tiffany Unkel from Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Handel should supply some additional power to an Indian Hills squad that hit over 100 home runs last spring and returns three players who slammed 20 or more. She hit 11 home runs and knocked in 54 runs in 2018 for Atlantic.
Hart and Ackerman both played in last month's state tournament and their teams squared off in the Class 3A semifinals with Assumption winning that game and going on to take the state title. Hart is another five-year varsity player. She batted .366 as a senior, .434 as a junior and over .300 the previous three seasons.
Oehlert led Clarke in average this summer at .337, scored 30 runs and was perfect in a dozen steal attempts.
The Warriors will return eight players from last year's team which won the conference regular-season and postseason championships, took the district title series and won two of its four games at the NJCAA national tournament.