ROCKINGHAM — Lady Raider head softball coach Wendy Wallace told her team ahead of Thursday’s non-conference game that “it’s easier to adjust to faster pitching than slower pitching.”
A night after sweeping Seventy-First High School in a doubleheader and facing a Lady Falcons’ pitching staff that lacked velocity, the Lady Raiders didn’t have a problem jumping all over Piedmont High School.
Hosting the Lady Panthers, Richmond cruised to a 7-0 win behind a 3-for-3 performance by sophomore third baseman Payton Chappell. She also scored a game-high four RBIs to help the Lady Raiders improve to 14-2 on the season.
Chappell and junior catcher Kayla Hawkins teamed up to hit a pair of home runs, while senior shortstop Savannah Lampley knocked in a pair of RBIs.
In the circle for Piedmont (9-8) was freshman Jillian Thomas, who surrendered seven earned runs on nine hits. Her opposite number, Richmond senior ace Greyson Way, earned her 14th win of the spring, while tossing her fifth shutout, and third in two nights.
Way allowed just two hits in the game, walked one batter and stranded four Lady Panthers on base. She also sat down 12 batters on strikes.
Both teams played a scoreless opening three innings, each leaving runners stranded in scoring position. Junior left fielder Madison Jordan made an athletic leaping catch for the third out in the top of the third to keep the Lady Panthers off the board.
Hawkins would break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and the bases empty. She connected on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, sending an arching shot to left field that hugged the foul pole for her third homer of the spring.
Richmond’s next two runs would come courtesy of Chappell in the bottom of the fifth, who lasered a one-out pitch from Thomas over the left field fence for a two-run blast. That scored Allyiah Swiney (single), and was her fourth dinger of the year.
“Payton didn’t get a hit against Seventy-First and I told her it’s hard to get hits off slower pitching,” head coach Wendy Wallace said. “But she was all over the home run pitch and she’s seeing the ball better and better with more confidence at the plate.
“Once the girls got their eyes back on the ball and stayed flat, they were hitting hard line drives,” she added.
Chappell wasn’t finished at the dish, as she kicked off a four-run bottom of the sixth. With senior Taylor Parrish (single) on third and Jordan (walk) on second, Chappell roped a two-RBI single to left field.
That moved Swiney to third and Chappell advanced to second on the throw to the plate. In the next at-bat, Lampley crushed her team-leading eighth double to the warning track in left, bringing in Swiney and Chappell.
According to MaxPreps, Lampley is sixth in the state in doubles, just three behind current leaders Cori McMillan (Northwest Guilford) and Mackenzie Allison (Ragsdale).
Way came in and sat Piedmont down in order in the top of the seventh to ice the win, the fourth time she did that in the game.
Wallace added that Swiney and fellow freshman Kenleigh Frye are “hitting the ball hard” lately, and is pleased to see their improvement at the plate.
Parrish went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while Swiney was also 2-for-3, crossing home safely twice.
Richmond (14-2, 11-1 SAC) will return to SAC play Tuesday for senior night against rival Scotland High School (10-5, 6-5 SAC).
The Lady Raiders have already earned a share of the regular-season conference title, and need to win one of two against the fifth-place Lady Fighting Scots to win it outright. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
