Late runs lift Lady Raiders
South Ripley softball honored its senior class as part of Tuesday night’s win against Scottsburg. Pictured from left-to-right are seniors Emma Heidt, Ava Bastin, Taylor Jordan and Kelly Lohrum.
A late surge of offense was the boost South Ripley needed on Monday night and the Lady Raiders were an 8-6 winner over host Jac-Cen-Del in an Ohio River Valley Conference softball game.
South Ripley has now won three of its last four games while Jac-Cen-Del had lost four-straight heading into Wednesday of this week.
The Lady Raiders had actually led 3-2 but back-to-back innings of two runs scored had Jac-Cen-Del in front by a 6-3 score. Scoring for the Lady Eagles suddenly halted and South Ripley’s comeback trail was made complete by five unanswered runs in the last three frames. That included three runs in the top of the sixth which gave the green and white an advantage for good.
Payten Linville and Kelly Lohrum provided a spark on offense for South Ripley. Linville had three hits, two RBI and a run scored while Lohrum went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Lexi Bowling and Zoe Clowers each drove in a run on a hit and scored a run.
Taylor Swinney and Kaitlynn Shadday each went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Jac-Cen-Del. Josie Allen tripled and scored, Payton Adams had a double and RBI and Abbie Moorman scored twice and singled. Cheyenne Cullen and Brailynn Sloan added a hit apiece.
Lexi Bowling was the winning pitcher in a complete game effort, giving the Lady Raiders seven innings and allowing six runs -three earned- on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. Shadday was dealt the loss after six and one-thirds innings of work. She surrendered eight runs -five earned- on five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.
South Ripley’s win streak continued on Tuesday night with a resounding 19-8 win at home against Scottsburg (0-16). The Lady Raiders (6-10, 2-4 ORVC) was home on Wednesday in a conference game, is at Southwestern (Hanover) on Friday in an ORVC tilt and goes to Brown County on Saturday.
An 11-run second inning made for a 13-1 Lady Raider lead and the game eventually ended after five innings with the 10-run mercy rule in effect. South Ripley put together 15 hits in the contest in one of the team’s best nights of offense all season.
Linville’s inside-the-park home run highlighted for her a 4-for-4 day with five runs and three RBI. Clowers went 3-for-3 with two doubles, five RBI and three runs. Taylor Jordan and Adalyn Prather totaled two hits apiece with a combined three RBI and four runs. Lohrum, Ellie Combs, Bowling and Ava Bastin had a hit apiece to add to the assault.
Combs was the winning pitcher, allowing an unearned run on no hits through three innings with five walks and four strikeouts.
Jac-Cen-Del’s losing skid continued on Tuesday with a 16-6 loss at South Decatur in five innings. The Lady Cougars (12-3) scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to erase a 2-0 deficit and did not stop scoring from there.
Dalilah Martin’s home run and three RBI paired well with South teammate Raegan Benge who hit two doubles and drove in three runs. Jac-Cen-Del starter Abbie Moorman was pinned with the loss, allowing 11 runs -four earned- on seven hits in two and two-thirds innings. She walked five and struck out three.
Allen and Shadday each drove in a run on two hits and Swinney and Cullen had an RBI and hit apiece. Sloan and Paige Pindell contributed a base hit.
Jac-Cen-Del (3-10, 1-5 ORVC) is at Class A No. 2 Milan on Friday in a conference game and plays a round-robin on Saturday with Lawrenceburg and Southwestern (Shelby).
