The Indianola Warriors will look to turn their season around and build chemistry as they begin this year’s Pitt 8 Tournament with a rematch against Savanna.
Indianola (3-7, 2-2 Pitt 8) won the consolation championship in last year’s tournament and enters the tournament as the five seed. Coach Jonathan Miller said his team’s ability to make a run will depend on whether they can eliminate errors and keep calm under pressure.
“We’ve had a season of some ups and downs,” Miller said. “We’ve played well at times, and we’ve played bad at times, so it’s just a matter of us stepping up and continuing to play well, especially in the high pressure moments.”
The Warriors opened the season 2-2, but have lost their last three games, including 11-3 to the fourth-seeded Savanna.
Miller his team has been hot and cold at times. Senior Ford Peterson has provided much-needed stability Miller said he hopes will carry over into the Pitt 8 Tournament. Peterson has a .526 batting average and is second on the team in both hits and RBI.
“He’s a tremendous kid, great athlete, great baseball player,” Miller said. “I don’t know that he can play any better than what he is, but just in terms of the leadership value that he can bring to this team, to get others to start to play at a higher level, is kind of what we really need right now.”
Miller said his team is excited and ready to compete. He said his biggest hope for the tournament is the team to learn to play together and continue to show signs of improvement, even in losses.
“I hope we’re just finally starting to click and play good baseball, playing together, playing as a team,” Miller said. “Throughout this tournament, I’d love to see it just kind of click for us and for us to start getting into really good playoff-mode baseball.”
Indianola’s Pitt 8 Tournament run will begin with a rematch against Savanna at 1 p.m. Thursday at Haileyville
