LUMBERTON — Richmond Senior High School head bowling coach Ralph Butler knew it would be a battle of the pins Thursday if any of his Raider bowlers wanted to make the state tournament next week.
Competing in the regional round of the boys’ individual playoffs in Lumberton, the six Raider bowlers all put forth a strong effort, but saw their seasons come to an end without punching their state tournament tickets.
Last week, senior Lady Raider Savannah Lampley finished fifth overall in the girls’ competition, and will be the lone Richmond bowler in next Friday’s championship.
Unlike the regular season meets that followed the Baker format (each bowler tossing two frames per match), the regional tournament was an individual outing that saw each team member bowl three games.
To determine who qualified for the state championship, total pin counts were used, with the top eight guys moving on.
In action for the Raiders were seniors Tyler Bass, Cameron Carraway, Evan Hudson, Garrett Goodwin, Gunner Russell and sophomore Jonathan Rich.
Hudson would finish the day as the top Richmond bowler, rolling a 474 in his three games, placing 20th overall. He began the day with a 164, before bowling his best game, 183, and closing with a 127.
Scotland High School’s Hunter Edkins would prove to be the No. 1 overall bowler out of 56 competitors, as he racked up 656 pins in his three games. His line score was 247, 227 and 182.
The second through fifth-place finishers all represented Lumberton High School, with Jacob Britt’s 642 pin total good enough for second overall. Following him were fellow Pirates Reece Taylor (631), Jared Pittman (608) and Travis Mauney (605).
Pittman bowled the highest single game of the day, collecting 276 pins in his second outing. Rounding out the top eight were Chandler Inman (Jack Britt High School, 570), Samuel Locklear (Hoke County High School, 565) and Ethan Lowery (Scotland, 543).
“Coming in, we felt like 550 pins would be the cutoff to make the state tournament,” Butler said. “Eighth place was 543 pins, so that was pretty accurate. We had a chance at the end with Tyler and Evan needing to bowl strong third games to make it.
“We just didn’t seem to get the same pin action like we do at home, and the guys couldn’t make the adjustment in time,” he added. “We still have our conference tournament next week and hopefully we can come out and bowl well as a team.”
Russell was the second-best bowler for Richmond, as his 445 total pin count was good enough for a 23rd place finish. He scoring line was 191, 126 and 148. Bass was right behind him in 24th place, coming up four pins short with a 441 (game scores of 140, 155 and 146).
Goodwin placed 28th overall (159, 127, 135), Rich ended the day in 29th place (129, 120, 157), and Carraway finished things out with a 34th place tally (114, 151, 132).
Lampley will compete in the state finals next Friday in Lumberton at 11 a.m.
The Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament will be held a day prior, with the Raiders earning the No. 4 seed, and the Lady Raiders coming in with the No. 6 seed. Both squads will face off against Jack Britt starting at 4 p.m. in Fayetteville.
