Warriors Drop Two at National Tourney

St. George, Utah -- The Indian Hills softball team got to see first-hand the strength of the teams that would go on to finish second and third at the NJCAA Division I National Championships. On the first day of the double-elimination tourney, the Warriors lost to Yavapai (AZ) College, 8-0, and Wallace State (AL) CC, 9-0.

Wallace State overcame a loss in their first game -- right before they defeated Indian Hills -- to make it all the way to the title game, where they were defeated by national champion Miami Dade. Yavapai wound up in third place.

Indian Hills' losses also came against the last two national champs before this year (Wallace State in 2008 and Yavapai last year) and against two pitchers who were both named to the all-tournament team in the '09 tourney.

Yavapai's Audrey Workman shut out IHCC for five innings in the opener and Wallace State's Kelsey Dennis blanked the Warriors for four innings.

It was a day in which the Warriors just couldn't generate any offense. They had only four hits in the first game, singles by Tory Beaver, Ryan Jehle, Kelly Ruepke and Lizzy Tucker.

Yavapai started the scoring with two-out solo homers by Danielle Muniz and Molly Brossart in the 1st inning. They added a run against IHCC starter Brandi Haight in the 4th. Sonja Holmes replaced Haight in the 5th and both runs scored in that inning were charged to Haight.

Holmes allowed three more runs in the 6th.

Indian Hills' only real scoring chance came in the 5th inning when, trailing 3-0, they loaded the bases with nobody out on two hits and an error. But Workman, the Yavapai pitcher, struck out three straight batters to get out of the jam. She had 11 Ks in five innings.

Wallace State pounded three home runs among their 11 hits in Indian Hills' second game in ending IHCC's season. Warriors' starter Kylee Coughlin gave up eight hits and seven runs in 2 1/3 innings and took the loss. Holmes allowed the other two runs.

The Warriors' lone hits were leadoff singles by Brittany Petersen in the 4th and Sarah Wilcox in the 5th.

Indian Hills finished the season with a 33-24 record. The national tournament appearance was their first in five years.