ABERDEEN — Unable to find its rhythm on Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team started its season with a pair of losses.
Kicking off their Sandhills Athletic Conference season at the Sandhills Bowling Center, the Raiders fell to Southern Lee and Pinecrest high schools.
Despite the two losses, the Raiders managed to collect three points in the standings and currently sit in fifth place out of six teams after the opener.
“I thought we bowled well for our first two matches, considering we were without a couple of bowlers,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We switched up the lineup during both matches to see what worked best.
“Our scores got better in our second match (against Pinecrest). We’re heading in the right direction and we’ll continue to get better.”
Raiders win one game against Southern Lee
Starting the afternoon against the Cavaliers, Richmond suffered a 4-1 loss. The Raiders lost three of the four games and surrendered another point on total pins.
The four game scores against Southern Lee were 168-170, 122-225, 152-116 and 142-200 for a final tally of 584-711.
The Raiders bowled 15 strikes and 13 spares as a team and averaged 146 pins per game. Senior James Eason, serving as the anchor in the fifth and 10th frames, led the team with seven strikes and added two spares.
Junior Landon Taylor, who was at the top of the lineup, rolled four strikes and one spare. Fellow junior Landon Summerlin led the Raiders with five spares and added a strike.
Chipping in with a strike and two spares was sophomore Azariah Daniel.
Sophomore Owen Hancock bowled a strike and a spare, junior Trace Davis had two spares and senior Jabari Douglas recorded one strike.
Richmond bested in total pins against Pinecrest
The Raiders started to pick up momentum against the Patriots, splitting the four games. But Pinecrest was awarded the 3-2 victory following the total pin count.
Richmond took games two and three by scores of 182-171 and 194-175, respectively. In games one and four the Raiders lost 148-192 and 162-170. Pinecrest outdid Richmond 708-687 for the extra point.
Closing 32 total frames in the match, the Raiders combined for 20 strikes and a dozen spares. Their average score per game also increased to 171.8.
Eason again paved the way with a team-high six strikes and closed out four more frames for spares. Summerlin upped his game and bowled five strikes and added a pair of spares.
Daniel combined to close seven of his frames against the Patriots, rolling three strikes and four spares. Taylor kept the Raiders in it with four more strikes and a solo helper.
Rounding out the scoring effort were Douglas (one strike, one spare) and Davis (one strike).
The Raiders (0-2 SAC) will return to the lanes next Thursday in Laurinburg to face Hoke County (0-2) and Union Pines (1-1). Action will start at 4:15 p.m.
