Raiders defeat Cougars, split double-header with Austin

by Mark Downard

South Ripley Raiders defeated the Milan Indians 5-3 Monday night to take a one game lead in the ORVC conference. Both teams were 4-1 in the conference going into the contest.

Cory Yeomans went the distance for the Raiders striking out 5 Indians. The Indians scored 2 in the top of the first to take an early lead. South Ripley retaliated with one in the bottom half on a double by Michael Fear and a single by Tyler Ester. The Raiders scored 2 more in the second on a walk to Yeomans, an RBI double by Israel Burkett and an RBI single by Jacob Lemon to take a 3-2 lead.

The score stayed the same until the sixth when Lemon singled and Brandon Seabolt homered to left making the score 5-2 Raiders. Milan plated one run in the seventh to make the final score 5-3 Raiders.

The Raiders reserve team was defeated by the Indians 8-4 in the second game of the night.

The Raiders added a run in the second on a double by Andy Hartley and an error on a high pop-up off the bat of Seabolt. The Raiders continued the scoring in the third by plating three runs. Fear doubled, Tyler Ester singled, Yeomans reached on a third strike passed ball, and scored on a double by Israel Burkett, making the score 5-2 in favor of the Raiders.Yeomans took the mound in the top of the seventh and promptly struck out the first batter. The next two Austin hitters reached on walks. A ground out by the fourth batter resulted in a force out to give
the Raiders two outs.

Another walk and a passed ball on a strikeout that would have ended the game allowed the Eagles to stay alive. Three consecutive hits later the Raiders were trailing 7-5. In the bottom half of the seventh the Raiders were down to their last strike when Israel Burkett hit a monster two-run homer to tie the score. Russ Steinhauer pitched two scoreless innings
in relief and got the win when the Raiders scored the winning run on a single by Josh Cumberworth, walks to Yeomans and Burkett, and a wild pitch, which allowed the winning run to score.

Burcham pitched six innings, recording six strikeouts. Hitting leaders included Burkett going 2-4 with a homerun and four RBI's, Seabolt and Cumberworth both went 2-4.

Raiders' junior high track teams run against Eagles, Cardinals

by Ciara McGuire

The South Ripley junior high track team hosted the Jac-Cen-Del Eagles, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Shawe Hilltoppers in a quadrangular meet on May 4. In the girls' portion of the meet, the Lady Raiders took the first place finish with 60 points, Jac-Cen-Del and St. Louis tied for second with 53 points, and Shawe finished last with 18 points.

For the boys, Jac-Cen-Del finished first with 95 points, South Ripley came in second with 50 points, St. Louis finished third with 26 points, and Shawe finished with 13 points.

The first place finishers for the Raiders were Thomas Welch in long jump, Seth Madden in the discus, and the 1600-meter relay team consisting of Abel Everage, Thomas Welch, Brandon McKinley, and Jared Keck.

The first place finishers for the girls were Lacy Ward, Lakin Davis, and the 800-meter relay team of Jackie Clements, Angel Moore, Erica Ester, and Lakin Davis.
Top performers for the girls were Lacy Ward and Alex Snyder in the throwing events, and Lakin Davis was the top runner.