2023 NJCAA REGION XI CHAMPIONSHIP APPAREL
Ottumwa, IA – For the eighth consecutive year, the Indian Hills Softball team captured the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Softball Region 11 Championship. The top-seeded Warriors defeated No. 3 seed Southeastern Community College 11-3 and 9-1 to sweep the championship series.
The Warriors move to 43-7 and have won 19 consecutive games. With the region title, Indian Hills advances to the NJCAA Midwest District Championship tournament against Crowder College (MO) who swept through the NJCAA Region 16 tournament.
Indian Hills has now won 21 consecutive region tournament games dating back to the 2016 season. The Warriors have won 22 region titles dating back to the 1989 season.
The Warriors' run to the region title saw all four games in the tournament go just five innings after Indian Hills swept No. 4 seed Southwestern Community College before Sunday's championship round. Over the course of the four games, the Warriors outscored their opponents 58-8.
The offense set the tone in the bottom of the first inning of game one as sophomore Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) connected on a three-run. An RBI single from Carly Campbell (Homestead, IA/Williamsburg) in the second and a solo home run from Abby Martin (Lamoni, IA/Lamoni) in the third pushed the lead to 5-0.
Southeastern answered back with three runs in the fourth before TJ Stoaks (Lenox, IA/Lenox) delivered a pitch over the center field wall for a solo home run and a 6-3 lead. Four batters later, Anderson converted a two-run inside-the-park home run to extend the lead. An RBI double from Martin tacked onto the score for a 9-3 advantage.
Sophomore pitcher Madie Anderson (Mt. Pleasant, IA/Winfield Mt. Union) kept the Blackhawks off the scoreboard in the top of the fifth to keep the six-run lead intact. Claire Tipton (Unionville, MO/Putnam County) closed out the game in stile with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth.
Stoaks finished the game 3-3 at the dish while Anderson drove in five runs. Six different players tallied a multi-hit game in the opener to pace the 16-hit attack for the Warriors.
Madie Anderson picked up the win in the circle to move to 17-3 on the year.
A pitcher's duel opened up the elimination game as Indian Hills southpaw Ryann Cheek (Eldridge, IA/North Scott) allowed just one baserunner through the first three frames. Scoreless heading into the bottom of the third, Tipton scored the game's first run on a wild pitch.
Southeastern responded in the top of the fourth with their first run of the ballgame, but Indian Hills broke things open with four runs in the bottom half as Jenna Lemley (Troy Mills, IA/North Linn) and Destiny Lewis (Indianola, IA/Indianola) delivered run-scoring base hits. The Warriors continued to push the lead in the fifth as Lemley added another RBI base hit. A two-run error extended the lead to 8-1 before Eva Fulk (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) ended the game with an RBI double.
Tipton, Lemley, and Tatum Aragon (Fort Collins, CO/Fort Collins) each tallied two hits in the title-clinching game. Julia Kwakernaak (The Hague, Netherlands/Segbroek College) capped an impressive tournament, going 9-12 at the plate with four extra base hits. The freshman is riding a 14-game hitting streak for the Warriors.
Cheek went the distance in the circle with just one earned run allowed. The sophomore moves to 11-2 on the year.
The Warriors will now take on Crowder in Neosho, MO in a best 2-of-3 series for an automatic bid to the NJCAA DI Softball World Series in Oxford, AL. The tentative date of the NJCAA District Tournament against the Roughriders is May 12-13.
REGION CHAMPIONS! For the 7th consecutive time, & 21st time in school history, @WarriorSoftball is the Region 11 Postseason Champion as IHCC completed the sweep of @SCCBlackhawkSB at R.L. Hellyer Field as IHCC took 2 wins via the run rule, 11-3 and 9-1, each in 5 innings. (cont.) pic.twitter.com/fLf7pnDegI
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) May 7, 2023
