Warriors Come Up Short in Bid for Region Title

West Burlington, IA -- The Indian Hills Warriors bounced back from a disappointing loss in the opening game of the Region 11 postseason tournament to make a serious bid to capture the region crown.  But the bid was denied when Iowa Western came from behind to knock off the Warriors, 5-4, in the title game.

Indian Hills had taken a 4-1 lead in the championship contest, continuing the momentum they had gained in a 7-3 win over IWCC in the previous game.  Iowa Western, however, tied the score in the finale with a three-run 5th inning and then pushed across the game-winner in the bottom of the 7th to end the Warriors' season.

The pitching of sophomores Ali Martin and Hannah Washburn allowed IHCC to extend its season.  The two right-handers shared the pitching duties as the Warriors stormed back to win three straight games, spread over three days.

Faced with the prospect of seeing their season come to a close after Iowa Western nipped them, 3-2, in the first game on Saturday, the Warriors got a combined shutout from Martin and Washburn to blank Southeastern CC, 2-0, later in the day.

Martin started and went 3 2/3 innings before coach Jim Overturf followed his strategy from the second half of the season and brought a fresh arm into the game.  That was Washburn, who completed the shutout with 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief.  Run-scoring hits by Lindsey Evans in the 1st inning and Sam Norris in the 4th accounted for the IHCC scoring.

On Sunday, Indian Hills and Muscatine CC played into the second inning in a steady rain before the game was suspended.  The Warriors had tallied three runs in the 2nd to take a 3-1 lead.  When play resumed on Monday morning, Kaitlyn Caston homered to bring the Cardinals to within a run, but Indian Hills got the run back in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single by Paige Blom and neither team scored after that in a 4-2 IHCC victory. 

Washburn, the starter in this game, got the first two outs in the 7th before Martin came on with the tying runs on base and got a strikeout to end it.

That gave the Warriors a chance to avenge their earlier loss to Iowa Western and they didn't miss out on the opportunity.  Indian Hills teed off on Iowa Western pitchers Greta Smeins and Kylee Polsley in a 13-hit attack in a 7-3 victory. 

The Warriors had a half-dozen extra-base hits, including homers by Kaitlyn Matzen and Megan Bix.  Those two, along with Hiliary Pennington, Cortney Wood and Evans, each had two hits. 

Martin started for Indian Hills and pitched into the 7th.  Washburn came on with two runners on and got a strikeout and a groundout to finish the win.

That set up a winner-take-all game between the teams.

The Warriors again drove Smeins, Iowa Western's all-region pitcher, out of the game with nine hits and four runs in the first four innings.  Wood homered in the 1st to open the scoring and the Warriors tacked on three runs in the 4th, two coming on a single by Carrie Hudson.

Iowa Western scored three times in the 5th against IHCC's Washburn to tie the score at 4-all and the Reivers' Taylor Jonas singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the 7th.

Polsley completely shut down the Warriors' offense after their torrid start, allowing only one baserunner in 3 2/3 innings pitched.

The Warriors ended the season with a 34-28 record.  And five sophomores -- Washburn, Martin, Evans, Wood and Jenna Wolfe -- saw their IHCC careers come to a close as Indian Hills fell just short in its bid for the region championship.