ROCKINGHAM — When the North Carolina High School Athletic Association finalized its 2019 4A softball state playoff brackets Monday afternoon, the Richmond Senior High School softball team found itself in familiar waters.
For the second consecutive season, the Lady Raiders and head coach Wendy Wallace topped the charts and secured the No. 1 overall seed of the 48-team field. Richmond will also be the No. 1 seed in the West bracket, which carries with it a first-round bye.
Since the start of spring break, the Lady Raiders have been atop the adjusted Maxpreps rankings, leapfrogging fellow 4A competitor South Central High School (20-3). The Lady Falcons are the No. 1 seed in the East bracket.
Like last season, the road to the state championship will run through Rockingham. Richmond will have home-field advantage throughout the duration of the playoffs, and won’t have to leave its home park until the Western Regional Finals.
The Lady Raiders rolled through their regular season, winning a 4A best 24 games, while only dropping two games. Richmond won the Beach Diamond Invitational at West Brunswick High School, and made quick work against Seventy-First, Purnell Swett and Lumberton high schools to claim its second-straight Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament title last week.
Currently, Wallace’s club is riding a season-high 13-game winning streak. Hoping to carry that momentum through the playoffs, the Lady Raiders have not only 47 other teams standing in their way — but also the Western Regional Finals.
In each of the last two seasons, Richmond has made it to the semifinal series. But the three-game sets have proven to be a challenge, as the Lady Raiders have been swept by North Davidson (2017) and South Caldwell (2018) high schools.
The weight will fall on a trio of senior players who have experienced the past two heartbreaks. Pitcher Greyson Way is expected to work from the circle, while Savannah Lampley’s leadership at shortstop and Taylor Parrish’s club-leading 13 home runs can inflict damage on opposing teams on both sides of the ball.
Parrish and Lampley are both batting above the .450 mark at .470 and .451, respectively. According to Maxpreps, Lampley currently sits seventh in the state with 11 doubles, while her on-base percentage of .621 ranks near the top as well.
Way’s 23 wins are tops in the state, as her 1.91 earned run average is ranked 12th. Lampley is tied for first with 35 stolen bases, and is second with 43 runs scored.
Wallace and company have already checked off two of their three pre-season goals of winning the SAC regular season and SAC tournament titles. Now the only thing that remains is the Lady Raiders reeling in their first career state title.
Their run through the playoffs won’t start until Friday, when the Lady Raiders will welcome in the winner of No. 16 Ardrey Kell (15-6) and No. 17 South Mecklenburg (14-6) high schools. Both teams play in the South Meck 7 Conference, finishing third and fourth, respectively. The Lady Knights and Lady Sabres split their regular-season series.
Richmond has played each potential second-round opponent one time in the playoffs, starting with a 14-1 mercy-rule win over South Mecklenburg in the opening round of 2015. A season later in the same round, the Lady Raiders took care of Ardrey Kell 7-2.
With 24 wins on the season, that marks the second-highest number of victories the Lady Raiders have had entering the postseason. But Wallace understands that those wins don’t account for much moving forward aside from getting her team to its current seed, as the playoffs reset the playing field and are win-or-go-home.
One team in the West that Richmond will keep an eye on is No. 5 South Caldwell, as the Lady Spartans have eliminated the green and gold in the 2015 and 2018 playoffs. The two teams could potentially meet in the fourth round.
If the Lady Raiders were to win Friday, they would play either No. 8 East Forsyth, No. 9 Providence or No. 24 Hopewell high schools in the third round, depending who wins. First pitch for all games, unless otherwise noted, is set for 7 p.m.
The SAC is well represented in this year’s playoffs, seeing five other teams battling for a 4A state title. Joining Richmond in the West is No. 15 Scotland High School (10-9), while reigning 4A state champion Jack Britt High School (13-4) took No. 8 in the East.
Also in the East bracket are No. 13 Lumberton (17-6) No. 20 Hoke County High School (9-12), which will face one another in the first round. Rounding things out is No. 15 Purnell Swett High School (13-8).
