ABERDEEN — Adjusting to a new format this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ bowling teams opened their campaign on Thursday.
The Raiders used a platoon of bowlers to notch a second-place finish out of four teams, while a limited Lady Raiders’ roster secured a third-place mark.
Richmond bowled at the Sandhills Bowling Center and competed against host Pinecrest, Purnell Swett and Seventy-First high schools.
New this season is a regressing scoring system that doesn’t see teams compete head-to-head like they have previously.
Instead, each team bowls five games using the Baker format (five bowlers, two frames each) and a certain number of points are awarded based on each team’s finish in the five games.
The winning team gets four points, followed by three to the second-place team and so on. Four more points are awarded to the team with the highest pin total at the end.
The Raiders collected 14 points for second place, finishing behind Pinecrest High School (22 points). The boys’ game scores were 152, 115, 141, 164 and 135, and the team’s fourth game was the best in the field, earning them four points.
Coach Ralph Butler’s boys ended the afternoon with a total pin count of 707, an average of 141.4 per game.
Richmond’s girls’ team was without its top bowler, senior Autumn Hoffman, but the Lady Raiders managed a third-place score of 13 points. Game scores were 94, 111, 118, 99 and 75, with the third game score earning the team four points.
Led by new assistant coach Lily Sager, the Lady Raiders recorded a final pin total of 497, averaging a score of 99.4 per game. Purnell Swett and Pinecrest’s girls tied with 16 points each, but the Lady Rams’ pin total of 542 was the best of the day.
Butler said he was pleased with the Raiders’ efforts, considering some of the element of competition was eliminated due to the new format.
“We weren’t competing head-to-head with another team, and for some of our kids, they need that side-by-side competition to help them,” Butler said. “We’re glad we’re able to play, but it makes it harder because it’s like a practice atmosphere instead of a match.
“I was pleased with their scores,” he added. “After four games, we were 572 which is higher than our normal four-game score. Pinecrest was just phenomenal, but our guys competed.”
Senior Josie Standridge gives a pointer to sophomore Molly Erwin during Thursday’s meet.
Junior Cameron Way was Richmond’s hottest bowler, collecting nine of the Raiders’ 17 strikes. He had two strikes in the second game, and added four more, including a turkey in the 10th frame, of the fourth game. Way also had two of the team’s 11 spares.
Senior Mitchell Massey recorded three strikes and a spare, rotating at the anchor position with Way. Fellow senior Joseph Grant notched a team-high four spares and added a strike.
Senior Hunter Hancock, juniors Dexter Mabe and Colin Wheeler, and sophomore William White all contributed one strike and one spare.
“Cameron and Mitchell are our two highest averages, and they’re interchangeable at the anchor,” Butler said. “I had Mitchell there early, but Cameron was a little hotter and flipped them. That came up big in the fourth game for Cameron.”
For the Lady Raiders, senior Josie Strandridge, sophomore Ashlyn Bouldin and first-year sophomore Molly Erwin all had a team-high two strikes. Sophomore anchor Cadence Thompson had one strike and led the team with three spares.
Standridge and junior Ellie Buck, who made her debut with the sport, each added a spare for the Lady Raiders. Sager said the mix of experience and newcomers did well in the team’s first match, but hopes to improve in the coming weeks.
“After our first match, we have room for improvement across the board,” Sager said. “But I was pleased with how they bowled with it being a shorter season and having first-time bowlers.
“I hope we can improve on closing out our frames and picking up spares,” she added. “And we need to work on being more consistent following through with our arms and our forms.”
Thompson, who is expected to play a larger role on the team this season, impressed Sager at the anchor spot bowling in the fifth and 10th frames. But she also had some help.
“Cadence closed out several frames and came in handy when we won the third game,” Sager said. “But she couldn’t have gotten the support she needed if it wasn’t for the set up from Ashlyn and Josie.
“I think it was a team effort today,” she closed. “While we didn’t have perfect scores, for our first match it was a good learning experience.”
Butler said the scores from each of the team meets this season will be added together to determine the seeding for the conference tournament.
Richmond will return to the alley next Thursday and compete against Lumberton, Purnell Swett and Scotland high schools. Action will begin at 4 p.m. in Aberdeen.
