SHALLOTTE, N.C. – Through the first two rounds of the Beach Diamond Invitational, the Lady Raiders softball team had picked up two victories, 22 hits and outscored its opponents 15-2. But it met some fierce competition in the championship game Wednesday night, a game that went to extra innings.
Richmond was limited to just three hits in the eight-inning affair, and lost 3-2 in a heartbreaker to host West Brunswick High School. But the Lady Raiders didn’t go down without a fight, as a strong contingency of faithful Richmond fans packed the first-base stands.
“We had some adversity behind the plate tonight, but nothing that happened won or lost us the game,” head coach Wendy Wallace said. “I think we lost our focus a little bit because of that. But we started hitting the ball well in the second inning.
“We need to take care of ourselves on defense,” she continued. “They (West Brunswick) put a lot of pressure on our defense with getting the lead-off batter on. We were able to wiggle out of a couple situations with runners in scoring position with less than two outs. It just came down to them putting more pressure on us than we did on them.”
In a game dominated by a pair of junior aces in the circle, Richmond’s Greyson Way and West Brunswick’s Morgan Beeler, both teams saw limited baserunners and scoring opportunities. Beeler, who had also pitched in the second round, set her school’s record for most strikeouts in a game with 17 against Northwest Guilford High School.
During the championship game, a wide-open strike zone gave Way and Beeler the opportunity to rack up their strikeout counts. Way finished the night with six, while Beeler totaled 13. Both pitchers were also efficient in not allowing the leadoff batter on base, as Beeler got seven of eight out, while Way had three.
After both pitchers got their respective first three batters out in the first inning, it was the Lady Raiders who found the pop in their bats first. With one out, sophomore first baseman Kayla Hawkins found herself in a quick 0-2 count, but battled back to make it full. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Hawkins muscled a solo moonshot to center field to give Richmond a 1-0 lead.
Two batters later, freshman standout right fielder Paige Ransom raked her team-leading sixth home run of the season. Her solo bomb to dead center field was her second of the tournament, and gave Richmond an early 2-0 lead.
Richmond junior shortstop Savannah Lampley would collect the Lady Raiders’ final hit of the night in the top of the third inning, which was a one-out double to left field. Way would draw a walk two batters later, but Richmond couldn’t bring either runner home.
West Brunswick’s outfielders also made some key diving catches down the stretch to rob base hits, the first was a Taylor Parrish line drive to center field that was scooped up by Kayla Miller. In the top of the seventh inning, Lampley roped a would-be single to left field, but West Brunswick’s Cierra Watts snagged the ball off her shoelaces.
The Lady Trojans tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs. Miller led off the inning with a double, and Way battled back to get a ground ball and fly out. Following a four-pitch walk to Savannah Branch, Peyton Daniels hit a two-RBI single to right field to plate Miller and Branch.
Both teams failed to score in the sixth and seventh innings, but Way found herself in trouble in the home half of the seventh. West Brunswick’s Taylor Pigott led off with a single, and Katelyn Fulford moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt.
Controversy ensued during the next at-bat when Branch dribbled a ball back to Way, who turned and made a throw to Payton Chappell at third base. Chappell caught the ball for the force out, but the call was challenged and overturned by the umpiring crew, citing that Chappell bobbled the ball.
The overturned call ended up not making a difference, as Way dialed in and got a big strikeout against Daniels, and worked Beeler into tapping a ball back to her and throwing her out at first.
Heading into extra innings, Beeler sat Richmond down in order for fourth time during the game. Isabel Smeltzer led off the home half of the eighth by reaching on an error, and advanced to third on back-to-back ground ball fielder’s choices.
Pigott played hero when she extended her hands on 2-2 changeup from Way and roped the game-winning single down the left-field line, landing just inside the foul line.
For the tournament, Lampley, Way and Brianna Baysek were named to the Beach Diamond Invitational All-Tournament Team. Way pitched all three complete games, racking up 19.2 innings, allowed 14 hits, struck out 23 batters and gave up just two earned runs. She also had three hits in the three games.
Lampley and Baysek led the way at the dish for Richmond, with Lampley going 6-for-12 and drilling two singles, two doubles, a triple, a home run and two RBIs. Baysek wasn’t too far behind, as she went 4-for-12 with three doubles, a home run and three RBIs.
“Tonight was a big learning game for us with dealing with a hostile crowd,” Wallace said. “This is nothing if we go deep in the playoffs. We’ll take this this and build on it.”
The No. 2 Lady Raiders (11-3, 8-0 SAC) will return to Sandhills Athletic Conference play Tuesday and Friday of next week with second-place Lumberton High School (11-3, 5-1 SAC) coming to town on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
