Ottumwa -- Four players from this year's IHCC softball team that earned back-to-back conference regular season and postseason championships and qualified for the national tournament etched their names in the school's softball record book, dating back over two decades.
Records are only available to the 1995 season, a stretch that includes some of the most successful teams since the sport came to the Ottumwa campus. Kacey Duffield, who just concluded her IHCC career, is now listed in the top ten in 10 different single-season and career offensive categories. Shyanne Dubois, an All-Midwest Region second team choice as a Warrior freshman in 2016, is in the top ten in five statistical lists. And Emily Brown, who had a tremendous season that culminated in her being named to the All-Midwest Region second team, appears in three categories. Nataliah Hopkins was the leader of the pitching staff this past season and is now in the career or single-season lists five times.
Duffield is 2nd (since 1995) in career slugging percentage (.873) behind Kelly Uhde's .946 mark; she is also 2nd in on-base percentage (.541), trailing only Uhde's .596 record. After slugging 19 home runs this year, a total that tied the single-season mark established by Breon Michel, Duffield ended her two seasons at IHCC with 31 round-trippers, tied with Tara McClure for 3rd on the all-time list behind Michel with 35 and Kristy Menke, who hit 32. On the career records sheet, Duffield is 5th in walks with 62, 10th with 126 RBIs and 9th in total bases with 249.
In addition to getting a share of the single-season home run record, Duffield's .948 slugging percentage during her sophomore campaign was 2nd to Jennifer Sabourin's record of .953 and her on-base percentage of .547 was tied for 3rd with Amy Rowe, trailing Kelly Uhde and Beth Karabensh on the all-time list for one year.
Among the highlights of Dubois' initial season at Indian Hills was her 32 stolen bases (in 34 tries), tied for 6th among IHCC players. She is 8th in single-season total bases with 151, tied for 3rd with 226 at-bats, tied for 6th in hits with 96 and had 22 doubles, tied for 8th place.
Brown slammed 16 homers as a soph, placing her in a tie for 6th for a single season. She increased her home run total from three as a freshman and her career total of 19 is tied for 8th with Molly Thomas. She became the first IHCC player to hit three home runs in a game when she went deep three times in a game with Southeastern.
Hopkins' 36 games started in 2016 were the most for an IHCC pitcher in a season since at least 1995. Her 42 appearances were one short of Ali Martin's single-season mark. And her 189 innings pitched were tied with Ali Downing for 3rd place, topped only by Tracee Collins (218) and Cassie Heller (211). Hopkins, a former Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont star, ended her Indian Hills career tied for 2nd in starts (54) and 3rd in appearances (63).