Ottumwa -- Indian Hills placed three players from its national tournament softball team on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Midwest Region team. Representing the Warriors on the squad are first-team choices Olivia Goodale and Sierra Walton and second-team pick Shyanne DuBois.
Goodale enjoyed a superb freshman year as IHCC's number-one pitcher. One of three pitchers on the 16-player all-region team, she was 15-9 with a 2.18 ERA in 141 innings pitched. The righthander set the tone for her season with a one-hit shutout against Hill College on the Warriors' season-opening trip to Texas. She also had shutouts against North Central Missouri, Marshalltown and Southeastern during the regular campaign. But Goodale saved some of her best pitching for the postseason Region 11 and District J tourneys. In the region tournament, she blanked Southeastern, 4-0, and defeated Iowa Western, 5-4, for the postseason region title. Then, in the district tourney against Crowder College, Goodale lost to the Missouri champs in the opening game of the best-of-three series, but came back with a route-going four-hitter in which she pitched all 11 innings when the Warriors clinched a trip to the national tourney with a 2-1 victory.
Walton had a team-best .467 batting average as a sophomore and also led IHCC in games played (48), games started (48), RBIs (49), and on-base percentage (.532). An all-NFCA Midwest Region catcher, Walton slugged 12 homers for the season and 21 for her two-year career, 9th-best in school history.
DuBois, an infielder on the NFCA honor squad, led the Indian Hills offense in most of the categories Walton didn't. She topped the Warriors this season in at-bats (172), runs (56), hits (71), doubles (16), homers (16), total bases (140), slugging percentage (.814), and stolen bases (28 while not getting thrown out). IHCC shortstop concluded her two years for the Warriors in the single-season top ten in eight different offensive lists and in the career top ten in eight more. DuBois' total of 25 career homers is 7th all-time for the school's softball program.
The Midwest Region recognition makes all three Indian Hills players eligible for NFCA All-American consideration.