By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com
The Chipola Lady Indians took the first game of a scheduled doubleheader against Northwest Florida State on Thursday evening in Niceville, holding off the Lady Raiders 6-5 to take their third straight Panhandle Conference win.
Freshman Jessica Elliott started in the circle for Chipola and went the distance to get her 15th victory of the season and her fourth in a row, allowing three earned runs on four hits and seven walks with five strikeouts.
Elliott overcame a shaky start that included a four-run first inning that featured four free passes and a wild pitch, as well as two Chipola fielding errors.
Chipola came back to tie the game when Brashante Dareus followed a two-run home run by Katie Harrison in the top of the first inning with a two-run shot of her own in the third to make it 4-4.
The Lady Indians then went up with two more runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Alyssa Hathcoat and a bases-loaded walk to Lindsay Wurm to score Dareus.
Northwest got a run back in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run by Kaisey Carson and had a chance for a lot more after Elliott hit Jennifer Phillips and walked Jamie Phillips and Lauren Donaldson to load the bases with two outs.
But Elliott escaped further damage by striking out Haley Goodson swinging, and got out of another jam in the sixth with a double play following consecutive singles by Jenna Firestein and Adaria Dixon to start the inning, and then getting Carson to fly out to end the threat.
The bottom of the seventh inning was much less dramatic, as Elliott retired Jennifer Phillips, Amber Burton, and Jamie Phillips in order to end the game and improve the Lady Indians to 5-4 in Panhandle Conference play.
Harrison led Chipola offensively by going 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and two RBI, with Hathcoat adding three hits and an RBI, and Dareus going 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Dayane Armenta also had a hit and scored a run.
Carson was 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI for Northwest and also took the loss in the circle, pitching all seven innings and surrendering five earned runs on 10 hits and five walks with three strikeouts.