Lady Indians fall at National Tournament on walk-off hit

A two-out hit down the third base line from Seminole State was the difference as the Lady Indians fell 3-2 at the NJCAA National Championship in Yuma, Arizona.

Seminole State's lead-off hitter, Taylor Rowley, stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and hit a hard ground ball just inside the bag at third that scored pinch runner Ashylynn Bruce from second for the winning run.

With the loss, the Lady Indians were eliminated from the tournament and ended their season with a 27-18 record.

Once again the Lady Indians played tough against another top ranked opponent. Seminole State, ranked 6th in the nation, was the fourth top ten team that the Lady Indians faced in their last six games.

Seminole State got on the board in the first, after Rowley reached on a costly three-base error from Chipola and then scored on a wild pitch that sailed to the backstop.

In the second inning, Natalie Kopicova singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ava Worthy. On Kopicova's steal of third base, the catcher's throw got by the Trojans' third baseman, allowing Kopicova to score and tie the game, 1-1.

Seminole State answered in the bottom half of the inning and took a 2-1 lead courtesy of a walk, wild pitch and the second Chipola error of the game.

The score would remain 2-1 until the top of the sixth. Kinzie Nelson singled to lead off the inning and was replaced with a pinch runner, Alexis Cosgrove. The next batter for Chipola, Natalie Kopicova, doubled to score Cosgrove from first but was thrown out at second after rounding the base too far. The mistake would be costly as Sierra Jevyak and Marley Sims hit back to singles with one out. Jevyak and Sims were left stranded following a fly out and ground out.

The 2-2 tie going into the seventh would set the stage for the walk-off win for the Trojans after they were sent to the elimination game with the Lady indians on a walk-off loss earlier in the evening to Florida SouthWestern.

Zayla McBurrows (13-7) took the loss in the circle for the Lady Indians. McBurrows allowed 3 runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks. She struck out one Seminole State batter.

Chipola ends their season with its eleventh Panhandle Conference Championship, sixth State Championship, and ninth appearance in the National Tournament. The trip to Yuma was the sixth consecutive appearance in the National Tournament.