Raiders use extra inning to defeat Indians

by Jennifer Rogers

The South Ripley and Milan baseball teams played a seesaw game that saw multiple lead changes and an extra inning on Wednesday, May 25 at Milan.

Jacob Lemon started on the hill for the Raiders and McIntosh started for the Indians. South Ripley jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a single by Cory Yeomans and some Indian errors. Milan tied the game in the bottom of the second on a homer by Wes Edwards.

The Raiders responded with four runs in the third when leadoff hitter Brandon Seabolt was hit by a pitch. Yeomans and Michael Fear walked to load the bases. Tyler Ester drove a deep fly to the left that was dropped allowing 2 runs to score. Josh Cumberworth then doubled to drive in a run and Michael Matthews' sacrifice fly provided the fourth run of the inning, making the score 5-1 Raiders.

An error plagued bottom half of the third allowed Milan to even the score at 5-5. The Raiders scored in the fourth on a walk to Lemon, a single by Russ Steinhauer, and walks to Fear and the Indians scored three in the bottom half on an error, a single by Fleming, and a homer by Terril Ash with Milan taking an 8-6 lead.

The Raiders quickly regained the lead in the fifth when Matthews lead off with a single, Israel Burkett walked, Lemon reached on a fielders choice, and Steinhauer singled to drive in Burkett and Lemon. Steinhauer stole second and third, then scored on an error to make the score 9-8 Raiders.

The Indians regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth scoring two runs on a walk to Edwards, and back to back doubles by Ben Schafer and Brian Beard, making the score after five innings 10-9 Indians.

The Raiders scored two runs in the top of the seventh to lead the Indians 11-10 on a double by Brandon Seabolt and a home run by Fear. Fear came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh inning and gave up one run to tie the game on singles by Pennington and Edwards.

When the Indians loaded the bases with one out it looked like the Indians would upset the conference champion Raiders, but Fear picked off the runner at third and then struck out the batter to retire the Indians and send the game to an extra inning.

Matthews started off the eighth with a single, Lemon walked, and Steinhauer doubled to drive in two runs. Yeomans hit a two-run homer to make the final score 15-11 South Ripley. Michael Fear shut out Milan in the bottom half of the eighth to record the win.

Hitting leaders for the Raiders included Yeomans going 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBI's, Fear went 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBI's, Matthews went 2-3, and Steinhauer hit 3-5 with 4 RBI's.

For the Indians, top hitters included Ash going 1-5 with a home run, and Edwards hit 2-3 with a home run.

South Ripley took the conference championship with a record of 11-1, and a 16-8 record overall.

South Ripley will take on the Southwestern Rebels tonight, Thursday, June 2, in the bye game of the sectional.

Eagles win Softball Sectional

by Marcus Wirth

The Jac-Cen-Del varsity softball team won its first sectional since 2002 at Jac-Cen-Del on May 24 and 25. The Eagles started sectional play against Rising Sun. The Lady Eagles scored on a run in the first and added three more in the second. The Shiners cut into the lead scoring two in the fourth, but the Eagles put one run on the board in the fifth and seventh innings for a final score of 6-2.

Janelle Hardesty was 2-4 with a triple and an inside the park home run. She also knocked in two runs and scored one. Abby Morehead was 2-2 with a run scored and Alisha Lord was 3-4 with two runs. Olivia Newhart pitched a complete game to pick up the win. Newhart capped off the win by striking out the side in the last inning.

In the championship game on Wednesday, May 25 the Lady Eagles played the Shawe Hilltoppers who defeated the Crothersville Tigers to reach the sectional final. Shawe scored a run in the second and third innings. The Lady Eagles then took over scoring six runs in the third inning and put three more on the board in the fourth. Jac-Cen-Del then scored one in the sixth to become the 2005 Sectional #58 Champs by a final score of 10-2.

Kiersten Young was 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Abby Lauber was the winning pitcher throwing a complete game and striking out seven Hilltoppers.

The Lady Eagles now advance to the Lanesville regional on June 4 to play the Hauser Jets at 1:00 pm. If the Eagles win they will play the winner of the Spring Valley and Lanesville game in the championship at 7:00 pm.