Home Local Sports No. 2 Lady Raiders finish as SAC tournament runner-up

No. 2 Lady Raiders finish as SAC tournament runner-up

Junior Quston Leviner approaches home plate following her solo homer against Scotland on Thursday.
Kyle Pillar — Sports Editor.

LAURINBURG — A fight to the finish came up just short for the Richmond Senior High School softball team in Thursday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament championship.

The No. 2 Lady Raiders dropped a close game to No. 1 Scotland High School 4-1.

An early lead didn’t hold for Richmond, which allowed a four-run bottom of the fourth inning to finish as the tournament’s runner-up.

Head coach Mike Way took responsibility for the loss, saying too much emphasis had been placed on winning Tuesday’s conference semifinal game.

“I could sense it and it’s my fault, but we put so much emphasis on beating Hoke on Tuesday and getting through that game to get here,” Way explained. “This game was naturally a little bit of a letdown and I own that.

“We’re trying to work toward the 4A playoffs which start next week and this game will help us a lot because we’ll be in situations just like it in the playoffs. No matter the outcome, it was a good thing for us to be competitive in this game.”

Junior pitcher Quston Leviner gave the Lady Raiders a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning with a solo home run, her fifth of the season and the team’s seventh of the tournament.

With one out, she barreled up an offering from Avery Stutts (7.0 innings, three hits, one run) and sent it over the right-center wall.

That score would hold until the bottom of the fourth when the Lady Scots (20-4, 13-1 SAC) used two errors, two singles and a double to plate all four of their runs.

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Richmond stranded three runners on base, including two base runners on first and second in the top of the fourth.

Leviner pitched a complete game and gave up four unearned runs on seven hits. She struck out four batters.

Adding a single apiece for the other two Lady Raider hits were sophomore Katie Way and junior Macy Steen.

“I thought we played five really good innings tonight, we just happened to be a little bit off in the fourth inning,” Way said. “We just weren’t there like we were last Thursday, and it made a big difference.

“We’re in a spot where we have to play really well to win games like this, and our margin for error is not very big,” he added. “It’s just part of the game, but this will help us next week.”

The Lady Raiders (14-5, 11-4 SAC), who finished in first place in the SAC’s 4A standings, will now await the release of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4A East playoff brackets on Saturday.

The Richmond Observer will publish an article when the final brackets are released.



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.