By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com
The Chipola Lady Indians were hoping to get a sweep out of Sunday's doubleheader matchup with last-place Pensacola State, but they had to settle for a split thanks to a walk-off home run by Quierra Bradford in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Chipola came in looking to get over the .500 mark in Panhandle Conference play and saw a good opportunity against a 2-10 Pensacola State club that came in on a six-game losing skid.
The Lady Indians took care of business in the first game, rallying from a 3-0 deficit after three innings by getting a solo home run by Brashante Dareus in the fourth and two more runs in the sixth to tie the game before pushing four runs across in the seventh.
It was Dareus who started the rally in the sixth with a lead-off single, which was followed by a single by Jennifer Cottle and a wild pitch by Pensacola starter Kinsley Mason to allow Dareus to go to third base before scoring on another wild pitch by Mason to make it 3-2.
Cottle scored the tying run on an RBI sacrifice fly by Jenna Reeves, and Nalleli Lopez put the Lady Indians up for good with a solo home run to lead off the top of the seventh.
Another RBI sacrifice fly by Dareus scored Dayane Armenta to make it 5-3, with a passed ball scoring Ciara Jones and a squeeze bunt by Alyssa Hathcoat scoring Tori McDaniel for the final two runs.
Dareus, Katie Harrison, Lopez, and Shelby Clark all had two hits each for Chipola, with freshman pitcher Jessica Elliott earning the win in the circle for giving up two earned runs on five hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts in seven innings.
Chipola appeared on track for complete the sweep in the second game when a pair of two-run home runs by Harrison and an RBI single by Reeves made it a 5-1 lead in the third inning.
But Pensacola State rallied with a two-RBI double by Royce Smith in the bottom of the third and three more runs in the fifth inning thanks to three Chipola errors, with an RBI single by Bradford scoring Jessica Briggs for the go-ahead run to make it 6-5.
The Lady Indians trailed 7-5 going into the seventh inning, but Harrison led off the inning with her third home run of the day and Dareus followed with as solo shot of her own to tie the game up with no outs.
Hathcoat reached on a one-out single, but Briggs struck out Reeves swinging for the second out and got pinch-hitter Lindsay Wurm to fly out to centerfield to end the inning.
It didn't take long for Bradford to end the game in the bottom half of the inning, taking a 2-2 pitch off of Rosanne de Vries over the fence in left field for the game-winner.
The walk-off homer capped off a stellar day at the plate for Bradford, who finished 4-for-4 with three RBI, while Emily Pettigrew and Ashley Peters each had three hits and scored twice, with Smith going 2-for-2 with two walks and two RBI.
Harrison was the star for Chipola, going 4-for-4 with three home runs, five RBI, and three runs, with the three homers tying her own school record that she shares with Kara Gordon.
Dareus was also 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Hathcoat and Armenta each had two hits.
Chipola is now 6-6 in Panhandle play and will next go to Panama City on Wednesday for a doubleheader with Gulf Coast State at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.