Southeast Lauderdale slugs out victory over Raleigh

By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Oct. 8, 2004
If Ryan Miller was looking for a sign that his Southeast Lauderdale squad had recovered from a late-season slump, he got it on Thursday.
The homestanding Lady Tigers knocked out 35 hits in their two games against Raleigh, sweeping the best-of-three playoff series with two straight wins, 10-0 and 14-1.
Lindsey Graham was 3-for-4 and hit the game-winning double in the fifth inning to give Southeast Lauderdale a 10-0 victory in Game 1.
Lucy Ruffin, Heather Ward, Eli Bowen, Jessica Rose and Martika Ivy each had two hits in the first of two 10-run-rule victories for the Lady Tigers.
Southeast Lauderdale jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. After Raleigh recorded the first out, the Lady Tigers got three straight base hits from Graham, Ward and Bowen, and each came around to score.
The offense kept rolling for Southeast Lauderdale in the third inning, when the Lady Tigers got five more runs. Ward and Ivy each hit triples during the outburst, and Ivy's allowed Rose and Heather Harper to score. Ivy scored the final run of the inning on an RBI single by Andrea Wilson for an 8-0 lead.
Graham ended the game in the fifth inning on a two-RBI double, driving in Ivy and Megan McMullen and giving the Lady Tigers a 10-0 win.
The Lady Tigers picked up where they left off in Game 2, pounding out eight runs in the first two innings before running away with an abbreviated 14-1 win to sweep the series.
Southeast picked up four runs in each of the first two innings of the contest. Each of Southeast's first six batters reached base safely in the first inning, and a two-RBI double by Ward highlighted the inning.
An inning later, Rose slapped a two-RBI single with two outs to cap another four-run effort and put the Lady Tigers up 8-0.
Raleigh scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the second, but Southeast answered in the fourth with a six-hit, five-run outburst. Seven of the first eight Lady Tigers batters reached safely in the inning, including Ward, who smashed a two-RBI triple and then came home on a throwing error.
Southeast Lauderdale put up one more run for good measure in the fifth when Abby Havard scored on a sacrifice fly by Ward. It was the final touch on another emphatic win.
The Lady Tigers' defense was just as dominant as their offense. In the two games, Southeast Lauderdale surrendered just 11 hits five in Game 1 and six in Game 2.
Southeast Lauderdale's next opponent is the winner of Thursday's series between Purvis and North Pike, the results of which were unavailable on Thursday night.