By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com
After winning three of four games over the weekend in Panama City, the No. 8 Chipola Lady Indians will be back on the road today for a doubleheader with Alabama Southern.
Chipola (14-8) snapped a five-game losing streak Friday with a 10-5 victory over top-ranked Wallace State-Hanceville, giving up a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning before answering with a six-run eighth to pull away and get perhaps its biggest win of the season.
Katie Harrison and Brashante Dareus each had big games for the Lady Indians, with Harrison going 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI and Dareus going 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI.
Alyssa Hathcoat led the team with three hits, including a double, and scored twice while driving in one.
Jessica Elliott started in the circle and went seven innings for Chipola, giving up four earned runs on five hits and six walks with nine strikeouts, but it was Luana Imamura who got the victory for giving up a single unearned run in the eighth on two hits and two strikeouts.
There was no such late-inning drama in the following two games for the Lady Indians, as they blanked Middle Georgia State 4-0 with a dominant, complete-game shutout performance from Elliott, and then blasted Chattahoochee Valley 16-2 and hitting a school-record seven home runs.
Katie Harrison tied a Chipola record with three home runs, finishing 3-for-3 with a walk, three runs, and seven RBI.
Jenna Reeves added two home runs and four RBI herself, while Dareus was 2-for-4 with a homer, and Lindsay Wurm was 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBI.
Ciara Jones also had two hits to go with an RBI and two runs.
Chipola associate head coach Jimmy Hendrix said that, following the 6-4 loss to Darton to start the weekend, he was pretty happy with the way the Lady Indians played.
"We played flat against Darton, but what we talk about is getting better and over the weekend I thought we got better from the first game to the last game," he said. "Hopefully we can gain some momentum of it and go into Alabama Southern and capitalize on that."
Chipola will return home Saturday for a doubleheader with Faulkner State at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.