Oxford, AL – The Indian Hills Softball team saw its record-breaking season come to an end on Thursday as the Warriors dropped a thrilling extra inning contest at the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Softball World Series at Choccolocco Park.
Battling out of the consolation bracket following Wednesday's 1-1 performance on the diamond, the Warriors advanced in the consolation bracket after opening the day with a 13-8 victory over No. 8 seed Butler Community College (KS) before falling 4-2 in eight innings to No. 4 seed Walters State Community College (TN). Indian Hills finished its national tournament run with an eighth-place finish, tied for the program's best finish since 2004.
Indian Hills capped the season with a 47-10 overall record, the program's most wins since the 2005 team won 62 contests. The Warriors closed out their national tournament run with a 2-2 record, the 10th time the program has won at least two games at the NJCAA World Series.
Roughly 13 hours after the final out of Wednesday night's victory over Gaston College (NC), the Warriors took the field against Butler with both team's attempting to stave off elimination. Indian Hills took advantage of a number of Grizzly miscues to plate five runs in the second inning. Eva Fulk (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) and TJ Stoaks (Lenox, IA/Lenox) both added run-scoring singles in the frame to ignite the offense.
Butler, ranked No. 15 in the final national poll, answered with two runs in the third before a two-run home run from freshman Jensyn Jones (Swisher, IA/Cedar Rapids Prairie) gave the Warriors a five-run advantage once again. Following another run from the Grizzlies in the fourth, freshman Julia Kwakernaak (The Hague, Netherlands/Segbroek College) delivered a two-run home in the fourth for a 9-3 advantage.
Butler refused to go away and plated four runs in the fifth to pull within two, 9-7. Clinging to the lead, the Warriors saw its dynamic duo of Destiny Lewis (Indianola, IA/Indianola) and Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) each deliver a home run in the frame to push Indian Hills' advantage to 13-7.
Sophomore Ryann Cheek (Eldridge, IA/North Scott) took over in the circle in relief in the bottom of the seventh and retired three consecutive batters with the bases loaded to clinch the win for the Warriors.
Lewis finished the game 3-4 at the plate with three RBI while Abby Martin (Lamoni, IA/Lamoni) added a pair of hits and two walks. Jones and Stoaks both had multi-hit games for the Warriors to pace the 12-hit attack.
Sophomore Madie Anderson (Mt. Pleasant, IA/Winfield Mt. Union) picked up the win with four innings of work, her 20th victory of the season. Anderson becomes the first 20-game winner for the Warriors since 2016 and just the third over the last 17 seasons.
Cheek was credited with the save, her third of the year, and finished the season with a 1.17 earned run average, the lowest mark for the Warriors since 2009.
Looking to continue its postseason run, the Warriors advanced to take on Walters State who took a 1-0 victory over Wallace State Community College (AL) earlier in the day Thursday to stay alive in the consolation bracket.
Walters State and Indian Hills, which rank third and fourth in the nation in home runs this year, respectively, each put a run on the board in the opening inning as Martin delivered a run-scoring single up the middle for the game's first score.
Madie Anderson limited the Senators over the next two frames as Indian Hills jumped back ahead 2-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Claire Tipton (Unionville, MO/Putnam County). Walters State responded with a run of its own in the bottom half of the fifth.
The two sides went scoreless over the next two frames as Indian Hills went to extra innings for the second consecutive day. The Warriors put a pair of runners on base in the top half of the frame, but failed to convert. With one out and a runner on, the Senators delivered a two-run walk-off home run to eliminate the Warriors from the postseason.
The Warriors tallied five hits in the loss, including two from Kwakernaak.
Walters State advanced to take on No. 6 Grayson College (TX) Thursday night for its third game of the day and ultimately fell 14-0 to end its season.
With six RBI at this year's World Series, Lewis becomes the all-time RBI leader in program history with 182 over the past two seasons. Lewis now owns the career record for home runs, runs, RBI, and total bases and ranks in the top-three in batting average and hits. Lewis also owns four single season school records for the Warriors.
Through two days and 26 games at the World Series, the Warriors are the only team to score in double-digits twice and were the only team to earn a run-rule victory. The Warriors 32 runs at this year's World Series are the most in the tournament this year and also set a new program record for most runs at a national tournament.
SENATORS WALK OFF WARRIORS IN 8TH – @WarriorSoftball's season ended in the 3rd round of the consolation bracket of the NJCAA D1 World Series today as the Warriors were beaten 4-2 on a walk-off, 2-run homer off the bat of @WSCCsoftball's Ava Brooks in the bottom of the 8th. (cont) pic.twitter.com/XPBzbQelAh
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) May 25, 2023