Spring Trip Recap

Ottumwa --- A couple of dominating pitching performances by freshman pitcher Kendle Schieber highlighted Indian Hills' season-opening trip to Alabama and Florida.  Schieber threw a two-hitter in the Warriors' 5-1 win against Calhoun (AL) CC to kick off the trip, striking out 12 in her first-ever collegiate start.  She then hurled a two-hit shutout with five Ks as the Warriors ended their journey with a 9-0 blanking of Lake Michigan CC.

In between, unfortunately, the Warriors failed to record a victory, returning with a 2-11 record, although veteran coach Jim Overturf said he definitely saw some positives in his team's performance, even they though failed to record a victory other than the two bookend contests.

"We certainly saw a lot of improvement from the first weekend to the last," said Overturf, who pointed out that his squad's inability to practice outdoors prior to leaving on the trip worked against them.

The staff ERA was 5.25 for the 13 games and that will get better, Overturf said, once his all-freshman pitching staff gets more experience.  "We have to improve our defense beginning with the pitching staff.  We usually gave up one big inning every game," he added, noting that the Warriors did have opportunities to add to their win total, but gave up a late lead in four games.

"The effort was there every day," the coach said, "but getting them to relax and play with confidence was a big challenge.  I really believe they tried so hard that they were very tense and not able to finish games strong."

Schieber also contributed at the plate, leading the team in average at .344, hits with 11 and RBIs with seven.  She had three hits and drove in four runs in the game with Lake Michigan.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Matzen hit .312 while playing in all 13 games and six of her 10 hits were doubles.  Soph Felisha Durflinger had a two-homer game in the opener against Calhoun and freshman Cheyenne Ellis also homered in that contest.

Olivia Starcevich, a freshman, led the team in at-bats with 42 and runs scored with seven.

The Warriors will have to find a way to generate more offense.  They averaged fewer than three runs per game and had a team batting average of .235.

Indian Hills will head to Missouri this weekend for the Carthage Bash and will play five games in two days.  The home and conference opener is slated for March 22 when Iowa Western visits Hellyer Field for a doubleheader.