WEST BURLINGTON – No. 12-ranked Indian Hills saw its nine-game win streak come to an end in the opening game of an ICCAC doubleheader against Southeastern at FunCity Turf's indoor facility in West Burlington Wednesday afternoon, falling to the Blackhawks, 8-7.
The Warriors (18-4, 10-2) would snatch game two against SCC, 9-5 to salvage the split.
"The rivalry between Southeastern and Indian Hills always adds a little intensity to the doubleheader, and yesterday's game proved that," said IHCC Head Coach Lindsay Diehl. "It was a great experience for our kids to be in a tight game like that. Obviously, I wish we would have ended up on the winning side of it, but we had some good talking points about being locked in every pitch because you never know which pitch is going to be a determining moment in a game."
Nicole Bellis seemed to have that locked-in mentality from the jump on Wednesday as she followed up her three homer day on Monday with a three-run bomb in the first inning of game one against SCC. It was Bellis' sixth of the season and vaulted her past Chloe Olson for the team lead in that category.
The Blackhawks (13-10, 4-8) pulled within a run in the bottom of the third against IHCC starter Malarie Huseman, and would eventually put the Warriors down 6-3 after plating four more in the fourth with back-to-back RBI-doubles followed by a two-run shot by Ariana Ramirez.
Just a half inning later, Indian Hills took its turn gaining the upper hand in the slugfest as the Warriors would push four across with the big blow coming off Gracie Jevyak's left-handed bat in the form of a two-RBI double.
The 7-6 lead would not stand up, however, as Southeastern would put two on in the sixth against Huseman and Abbie Miller would deliver what would eventually be the game-winning two-run single to hand the Blackhawks the 8-7 advantage.
IHCC would threaten in the final inning putting runners on the corners with no outs after back-to back singles from Bellis and Chloe Olson. Ramirez fought back in the circle for SCC and would catch Jevyak looking for the first out, and then she snagged a Gretta Hartz liner and doubled off Olson at first to end it in dramatic fashion, sparking a wild celebration on the infield by the Blackhawk players.
"It was a great point to make to my kids about what it means to play at Indian Hills," Diehl added. "Everyone is coming for you."
Huseman fell to 9-3 with the loss. The Warrior righty struck out 12 and only walked two, but the Blackhawks did rap out a dozen hits and all eight runs were earned.
Olson had three hits in four plate appearances while Bellis, Jevyak, Hartz and Bryanna Mehaffy each had a pair of hits for the Warrior offense.
Game two saw the Warriors get back on the winning track and it was Bellis again getting the scoring started in the first with an RBI double that scored Peyton Moffet. Olson and Hannah Poortinga each followed with sacrifice fly balls to score Mehaffy and Bellis, and IHCC had another early 3-0 advantage.
Indian Hills would add on in the fourth after Mehaffy singled, stole second and would score on a Blackhawk error making it 4-0, IHCC. Poortinga and Alex Beard both followed with singles to set the stage for Maddy Findley's first collegiate round-tripper to left which made it 7-0, Warriors.
SCC would answer quickly against Indian Hills starter Margot van Eijl in the bottom of the third as the hosts picked up four runs, two coming on a Miller homer, to shave the IHCC lead to 7-4.
Breanna Newton would launch a one-out shot in the sixth to give van Eijl a little more cushion and a SCC error plated Anna Voigt later in the inning to make it 9-4, IHCC.
Van Eijl would settle in the rest of the way, only surrendering a cosmetic tally in the bottom of the seventh with the Warriors comfortably ahead to collect her fifth win against no defeats this season. The Warrior right-hander tossed a seven-hitter, striking out six with two walks. All five runs were earned against her.
"We are doing a great job of bouncing back and getting the split after a loss in game one," Diehl said. "That's good to see we aren't just rolling over. I thought Margot threw really well, and our bats did what they needed to do. We do need to clean some things up on defense, but we will work on those things and get better."
Indian Hills travels to Mason City on Friday to face NIACC for a two-day four-game set. Friday's twinbill starts at 2 p.m. and Saturday's pair begins at 1 p.m.
GAME ONE
Indian Hills 300 040 0 – 7 11 1
Southeastern 002 402 x – 8 12 4
WP – Ariana Ramirez, LP – Malarie Huseman (9-3)
(2B – Jevyak; HR – Bellis; RBI – Bellis 3, Jevyak 2, Voigt; SB – Hart, Hartz)
GAME TWO
Indian Hills 304 002 0 – 9 12 0
Southeastern 004 000 1 – 5 7 3
WP – Margot van Eijl (5-0), LP – Keziah Stutzman
(2B – Bellis, Olson; HR – Findley, Newton; RBI – Bellis, Findley 3, Newton, Olson, Poortinga; SAC – Olson, Poortinga; SB – Mehaffy)