ROCKINGHAM — A night after raining down nearly a dozen extra-base hits, the Lady Raider softball team beat the rain and Pinecrest High School to start Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Friday.
Moving the game up two hours due to weather, the Lady Raiders mercy-ruled the Lady Patriots 10-0 in six innings.
It was the second time in as many nights that Richmond collected a win by 10 runs (defeated Montgomery Central 13-3 on Thursday).
Helping extend the team’s streak to three games to start the season was junior pitcher Quston Leviner, who tossed a six-inning shutout. She only allowed one hit and struck out a season-high 10 batters, and earned her third win of the spring.
Leviner also did damage at the plate, collecting a game-high three hits (one double) and added two RBIs.
Richmond’s early-season pop remained in the Lady Raiders’ bats, as they notched 13 hits off of Pinecrest’s pitcher Macey Jackson. She threw 5.1 innings and allowed 10 runs (8 earned) and walked five batters.
Junior Macy Steen (15) connects on a 2-RBI single in the first inning. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Senior Allyiah Swiney, who went 2-for-2 and scored three runs, had a pair of triples. Fellow senior Kenleigh Frye recorded a solo homer and a double to go along with her two RBIs.
Also adding a pair of runs across the plate was junior Macy Steen. Junior Makayla Parks and sophomore Christi Jacobs both contributed with a hit and one RBI.
In her six innings of work from the circle, Leviner never faced more than four batters in an inning. She retired the Lady Patriots (1-4, 0-1 SAC) in order in the second and third innings.
Pinecrest’s lone hit came in the top of the first inning, a single by Frances Hanshew. But a relay throw from center fielder Addy Hollingsworth to Frye at second caught Hanshew trying to extend it to a double.
Senior Kenleigh Frye (left) tags out Frances Hanshew in the first inning of Friday’s SAC opener. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
The Lady Raiders scored three runs in the bottom of the first, starting with Swiney who tripled to lead off the inning. As she stepped on third, an errant throw bounced to the dugout fence, allowing her to score.
Sophomore Katie Way and Leviner recorded back-to-back singles with two outs, and Steen delivered with a 2-RBI base knock to center field.
A two-out walk drawn by Swiney in the second led to her swiping second and third base. Frye stepped up and hit an RBI double to center to add to the lead.
On the next pitch, Parks laced an RBI single into left field to put the Lady Raiders up 5-0 after two complete.
Neither team scored in the third, and Frye helped kick start a three-run bottom of the fourth with a homer. She unloaded on a full count offering from Jackson and sent it over the right field fence for her second longball of the season.
Leviner made it 8-0 later in the inning with a double to left field, scoring Parks (walk).
Helping end the game early was an RBI single from Leviner in the bottom of the sixth, and Jacobs lasered a walk-off single to left field to plate Way (single).
Senior Allyiah Swiney celebrates one of her two triples. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Richmond (3-0, 1-0 SAC) will play another 4A conference game on Tuesday, traveling to Hoke County High School (2-3, 1-0 SAC). Play will begin at 7 p.m.
JV Lady Raiders earn first win
Following the varsity game, the Richmond junior varsity softball team defeated Pinecrest 14-8 in four innings. It was the team’s first win in three tries this spring.
Trailing 3-0 after the top of the first, the JV Lady Raiders scored five runs to take the lead. They added eight runs in the second and another in the third.
Collecting 13 hits as a team, Keyoni Nichols and Maddie Pearson both had three hits and two RBIs in the win. Both had a double and Christi Jacobs also added a two-bagger for Richmond’s other extra-base hit.
Erin Fields and Kennedy Fields both notched two hits, and combined for three RBIs. Kady Harris and Caroline Hunsucker contributed to the win with one hit and one run batted in apiece.
The JV Lady Raiders (1-2, 1-0 SAC) will also play at Hoke County on Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m.
