Tyler, Texas -- After splitting two games against Navarro on Feb. 26 to start their Texas trip, the 7th-ranked Indian Hills Warriors split six more contests over the next three days.
The slate of games started in Lufkin with the Warriors beating Frank Phillips, 2-1, and Angelina, 7-0.
Frank Phillips took a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning of their battle with Indian Hills, then the Warriors won it on back-to-back RBI doubles by Peyton Moffett and Brooke Tucker in the 6th. Chloe Olson had two hits and scored a run on the Moffett two-base hit and Tucker also had a two-hit game. Jakala Hall pitched a gem, giving up only three hits and a lone run while walking one and striking out six.
Against Angelina, it was Alexis Groet's turn to sparkle in the circle, firing a two-hit shutout with 14 Ks and two walks. The sophomore righthander got offensive support from Moffett, who went 4-for-4 with a homer and three runs scored. Abby Sweet drove in two runs and Nicole Bellis doubled and knocked in three. Olson also had an RBI.
IHCC endured a rough day on Friday, day one of the Tyler Showcase, losing to No. 10 Howard, 5-3, and No. 11 Butler (Kans.), 9-1.
Indian Hills scored a second-inning run and got two more in the 3rd to go on top 3-0 against Howard, but they came back with a three-run 4th to tie it at 3 and then plated two runs in the 5th. Olson had a single, double and homer for the Warriors, Sweet picked up two hits and Moffett and Jalila Hart one each. Groet took the loss, although only two of the runs were earned after the Warriors committed four errors.
Another four errors hurt in the following game against Butler, who took advantage with a 6-run 2nd inning. Five of their nine runs off IHCC's CJ Banner were unearned. The only Warrior hit was a single by Tiffany Unkell and Bellis scored the lone run.
Indian Hills absorbed an 11-3 beating by Three Rivers Saturday, then bounced back behind another outstanding pitching performance by Groet to blank 4th-rated Tyler, 2-0, to end the day.
Three Rivers put together a six-run 3rd inning and pounded out 11 hits against two IHCC pitchers. Brooke Snider and Abby Sweet homered in the 5th to account for the three runs. Olson rapped out two more hits and Moffett and Unkel one apiece. Hall started and worked three innings with Banner finishing up with two.
The Tyler game saw Groet overcome uncharateristic wildness, pitching around nine walks. But she also fanned 10 and permitted only two hits in the shutout. Indian Hills got their runs in the 1st and 3rd, driven in by Moffett and Sweet and both scored by Snider. Macey Harrington, Snider, Moffett, Tucker and Sweet had the IHCC hits.
The Texas results left the Warriors with a 7-5 record going into a doubleheader against top-ranked Seminole State (Okla.) on Monday.