ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School softball team finds itself in familiar territory ahead of the opening round of the 2019 Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament.
Ranked as the No. 1 team in the SAC tournament for the seventh-straight season thanks to winning their seventh consecutive regular-season title, the Lady Raiders and head coach Wendy Wallace are gearing up for their third championship in the past four years.
Set to begin Tuesday at home, the Lady Raiders (21-2, 13-1 SAC) will welcome in No. 8 Seventy-First High School (1-16, 0-14 SAC).
Richmond was busy over spring break, traveling to West Brunswick High School to compete in the 20th annual Beach Diamond Invitational. Playing in three qualifying games, the Lady Raiders knocked off South Columbus, Whiteville and East Bladen high schools to set up a rematch of the 2018 title game with the host Lady Trojans.
Thanks to a seven-run first inning, coupled with two runs in the second, the Lady Raiders held off West Brunswick 9-8 to earn the beach hardware. In last season’s championship, West Brunswick edged Richmond 3-2 in eight innings.
With the regular season in the books, the Lady Raiders are looking to boost their resume as they prepare for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs. A season ago, Richmond won the SAC tournament, defeating Jack Britt High School 7-2 in the championship, and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the west bracket for the state playoffs.
The NCHSAA released its most recent adjusted Maxpreps rankings earlier this week, and the Lady Raiders sit atop the 77-team field in 4A play. No. 2 is South Central High School (16-2), as fellow SAC foe Jack Britt (12-3) fell in at the No. 4 hole.
When Wallace’s team takes the field against the Lady Falcons Tuesday, the Lady Raiders shouldn’t face the threat of elimination too harshly. During regular-season play, Richmond swept Seventy-First in a doubleheader, outscoring the Lady Falcons 41-0 in 10 innings.
Assuming Richmond will advance to the second round, which will be played Wednesday at home, it will face the winner of the No. 4 Purnell Swett High School and No. 5 Scotland High School matchup. The Lady Raiders combined to go 4-0 against those two teams, with its only loss in conference play coming against No. 3 Lumberton High School.
Currently riding a 10-game winning streak, Richmond would play in the title game Friday if it were to make it past the first two rounds. That game will also be played at home since the Lady Raiders are the No. 1 seed.
A preseason goal Wallace mentioned was making a sweep through regular-season and SAC tournament play. The ultimate goal, however, still remains to win the program’s first NCHSAA state title.
During the 2018 playoffs, the No. 1 Lady Raiders had a first-round bye before cruising past Independence, Lake Norman and Hickory Ridge high schools in the second through fourth rounds. Richmond was swept in two games by South Caldwell High School in the Western Regional Finals.
First pitch against the Lady Falcons is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m.
