LUMBERTON — The 2019-2020 Sandhills Athletic Conference bowling season opened play Thursday, and the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ teams put forth an effort that can be built on for the remainder of the regular season.
With each team sporting its best five bowlers (and allowed to carry seven), and following the Baker format, which sees each bowler responsible for two frames in each match, the Raiders and Lady Raiders took on Pinecrest and Scotland high schools.
Teams played four games in each match, and the final pin count added an extra tally to the final score, making for 10 total possible wins.
Second-year head coach Ralph Butler saw his nearly all-new group of Raiders post a 4-6 overall record on the afternoon. Richmond was swept by Pinecrest 0-5, but the Raiders responded with a 4-1 win over the Fighting Scots.
Having lost most of his bowlers from last season’s state championship qualifying team, which took 10th place, Butler said consistency will be key for this year’s group’s improvement.
Against the Patriots, the Raiders bowled game scores of 138, 143, 118 and 146 for a total pin count of 545. Pinecrest took all four individual games, beating Richmond will tallies of 168, 189, 179 and 205 for a final count of 741 pins.
But in the second match of the afternoon, the Raiders responded with a trouncing of Scotland. Richmond dropped the first game 93-133, but rallied to win the final three by scores of 184-149, 121-119 and 149-111. The final pin count against the Fighting Scots was 547-512 in the Raiders’ favor.
“The boys’ pin totals were similar to last season at this time, which is encouraging given we’ve replaced so many,” Butler said. “I rotated them pretty evenly for the most part, with the exception of a few that were hot and closing out frames.
“I wanted to see how they’d perform under some pressure,” he added.
Junior Joseph Grant led the way for the boys’ closing out nine of his 12 frames, and was followed closely by fellow junior Hunter Hancock, who capped seven of his 12 frames bowled.
Sophomore Cameron Way, who is new to the sport, has picked up some of the highest scores in practice, and Butler said he was encouraged by his skill set. He also subbed in freshmen Luke McCormick and William White, both of whom have been impressive early.
“The biggest thing is consistency,” Butler said of the Raiders. “We had two of the top 10 scores on the day, but had some pretty low games as well. I think we’ll become more consistent.”
In the Lady Raiders’ lane, the girls’ team fared a little tougher afternoon than their Raider counterparts. Richmond would lose both matches to Pinecrest and Scotland by scores of 1-4.
Butler’s Lady Raiders’ best score of the first match came in the final game against Scotland, seeing them earn a 122-83 win. But the other three games favored the Lady Scots by tallies of 152-136, 164-115 and 120-107.
Pinecrest also proved to be a tough opponent, which returns as the reigning state championship winning team. The Lady Patriots took the first three games 152-112, 135-101 and 118-109, before Richmond rebounded with a 109-102 win.
The final pin counts for the Lady Raiders were 422-507 against Pinecrest and 480-519 against Scotland.
Butler returned four starters from a season ago on the girls’ team in seniors Kayla Howell and Jessilyn Hubbard and juniors Autumn Hoffman and Josie Standridge. Although they had a tough first outing, he believes their experience should see them improve as the season goes along.
“The girls had some bad luck also,” Butler commented. “They were able to get a win against Pinecrest which is great considering they’re the defending state champs. They had so many nine pin tosses in the first half of frames.
“Josie was about as consistent as you can be with throws knocking down nine pines down,” he added. “If she does that and closes out frames more consistently, she’ll be huge for us. Jessilyn and Autumn were good all night, and Autumn closed out more frames than anyone.
Newcomer Hailey Miller also looked promising, and Butler added he expects her to improve as well.
Closing out frames, meaning collecting more spares, is what will be the difference maker moving deeper into the regular season. Butler said that’s an area both squads will practice ahead of their next match.
The SAC teams will get a week off for Thanksgiving before returning to action on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Laurinburg Bowling Center. Matches will begin at 4 p.m.
