LUMBERTON — The Richmond Senior High School bowling season came to a close Friday at the state tournament in Lumberton. And while the Raider and Lady Raider bowlers didn’t walk away with any hardware, first-year head coach Ralph Butler called the season “absolutely a success.”
Attending the state championship at Lumberton Bowling Center were singles’ competitor Savannah Lampley and six Raider bowlers representing Richmond in the team competition. Richmond didn’t have an individual bowler in the boys’ tournament.
Lampley, a senior, placed eighth overall out of 33 bowlers, with a final pin count of 492 in her three games. She finished with individual scores of 154, 200 and 138, and missed a shot of competing in the four-person bowl-off to determine the state champion by 22 pins.
During her second game, Lampley knocked down eight strikes.
“Savannah was in fourth place going into the last game, and had a chance to compete in the bowl-off for state champion,” Butler said. “Her 138 well below her average of 160, and had she done that, she would have been a top four.
“To be 22 pins out, that was awesome for her,” he added. “I’m really excited for, especially since some of the other girls have been doing it for 10 years and this is only her second year.”
Seniors Tyler Bass, Cameron Carraway, D’Nautica Everett, Evan Hudson and sophomores Mitchell Massey and Jonathan Rich took 10th overall out of 13 teams. Using the Baker format where each bowler rolls two frames per game, the Raiders finished with a score of 571 pins in four games.
Individual scores for the Raiders were 123, 181, 157 and 113.
The top four bowlers in the girls’ individual tournament were Chloe Newberry (Lumberton, 594), Cecilia Chafin (Cape Fear, 546), LeeAnne Robbins (South View, 519) and Denise Brown (Lumberton, 514). Newberry topped Robbins in the bowl-off to win the state championship.
Winning the boys’ team state championship was Lumberton High School, the Sandhills Athletic Conference’s powerhouse team, with a tally of 768 pins. In second was fellow SAC school Pinecrest High School (723), followed by St. Pauls High School (718) and South View High School (717).
“For Savannah to place eighth and the boys to place 10th overall, it’s obviously exciting for us as a program only in its second year,” Butler said. “We haven’t been bowling as long as some of the other schools.
“Overall, I’m pleased with everyone,” he added. “Especially a top three finish in conference, and making the top 10 in the state. We were all excited and had a lot of fun. It was a good experience, and hopefully can build off that.”
Butler explained that the boys’ team “couldn’t carry over the momentum” from Thursday’s SAC championship that saw the Raiders take third place and punch their ticket to states.
He noted the team went back near its season average, and “fell off” during the final two games after a solid second game. Another thing the team struggled with was “making adjustments to the oil patterns,” as Butler said the lanes were extra heavy because of all the action.
With the season in the books, Butler reflected back on the season that was. From getting things started late in the fall, to a rollercoaster regular season, the showings at the SAC tournament and states made it all worth it.
“The one thing I’m pleased with is that everyone stuck with it,” he said of the 2018-19 season. “Our kids kept getting better, and a lot of our younger bowlers ended up playing a huge role. One example is Mitchell (Massey), who early on wasn’t playing much and stuck with it.
“He worked on his hook shot, and got better and better,” Butler said. “He got hot Thursday to get us to states, and he’s just an example to build on for the future.”
While the program is still in its infancy, Butler was pleased with the senior leadership of some of last year’s bowlers. He mentioned Bass, Carraway, Hudson and Lampley as being key contributors in helping the underclassmen develop their game.
While the majority of the boys’ team will be lost to seniors, as well as Lampley for the girls, Butler expects the program to continue to grow. One thing he hopes to establish in the coming months is a youth recreational league to help pique the interest of younger bowlers.
“The key will be to not stop in the offseason,” Butler explained. “I’m going to talk to middle schools about getting the team out there so we can get some more people interested in it.
“Strikers Bowling Alley has been great, and I’d like to thank them for allowing us to do what we wanted to do this season,” he closed. “The owner, Steve (Thompson), and I have talked about elementary and middle school level rec leagues so there’s some interest at the younger level.
“This season was absolutely a success. As a coach, you want to be better at the end and that’s what we did.”
