ABERDEEN — Opening its new season on Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team split its two matches.
Facing Southern Lee and Pinecrest high schools, the Raiders collected a 3-2 win over the Cavaliers and fell 5-0 to the Patriots.
Earning three points in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings, the Raiders used a couple of big games to defeat Southern Lee.
Against Pinecrest, Richmond stayed competitive in the middle games, but lost by large margins in the first and fourth games.
“We graduated five seniors but I felt like coming in based on what I’ve seen in practice, we have potential to put up some big numbers,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “There are some guys who practiced all last year and it showed against Southern Lee.
“Games of 227 and 224 are two of the highest numbers we’ve put up since I’ve been with the program. We struggled against Pinecrest and that’s part of the process. The lack of experience led to us not making the right adjustments to the oil drying on the lanes.”
Raiders use pin total to edge Southern Lee
In their four games against the Cavaliers, the Raiders split 2-2. Scores were 179-189, 227-146, 224-147 and 133-160.
Earning the extra point for the win was a result of collecting more pins, finishing with a total score of 763-642.
Senior William White had one of the best matches of his career, bowling a career-best nine strikes against the Cavaliers and adding two spares.
As the anchor, he had two in the first game, three in both the second and third games and one in the final game. To close out the 224-point third game, White bowled a turkey in the 10th frame.
Sophomore Sam Thompson made his full-time debut count, bowling five strikes and two spares. Thompson had perfect rolls in the second and third games for four consecutive Xs on the board.
As a team, Richmond notched 22 strikes against the Cavaliers and combined for 11 spares.
Senior Jullian Cline added three strikes and two spares, sophomore Garret Mabe had two strikes and two spares and junior James Eason bowled two strikes and a spare.
Sophomore Landon Summerlin had the final strike and fellow sophomore Landon Taylor added a pair of spares in the win.
Lack of adjustments hurt Raiders against Pinecrest
With many newcomers on the team this year, Butler noted the Raiders didn’t make quick enough adjustments to the drying oil patterns in their second match.
Scores against Pinecrest were 117-193, 153-158, 137-141 and 149-194 for a pin total of 556-686.
White impressed again with eight more strikes from the anchor position, bringing his total on the day to 17 strikes. He also contributed three spares.
Mabe and Thompson added two strikes apiece, helping the Raiders collect 14 total strikes against the Patriots. Cline and Taylor combined for the other two.
Eleven more spares helped keep Richmond in the mix, including four from Eason. Mabe had three and Cline had one.
“It was a really good night from William, really proud of how well he bowled,” Butler said. “I think we could have gotten one against Pinecrest, but we’ll be okay and keep developing.”
Richmond (1-1) will compete against Hoke County and Union Pines high schools next Thursday at Laurinburg Lanes. The first contest will start at 4 p.m.
