ABERDEEN — Strikes were the name of the game for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team during Thursday’s third meet of the season.
Continuing Sandhills Athletic Conference play, the Raiders crashed the pins for a season-high 40 strikes in a pair of wins. Eight different bowlers had at least one strike.
Competing against Lee County High School, Richmond earned a 5-0 win. That was followed by another 5-0 victory in an open match played to help determine final points in the conference standings.
Thursday’s action was the first time the Raiders have collected all 10 possible points in a meet this winter.
“It’s difficult sometimes not bowling with another team present, especially when some of our bowlers are so competitive,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “It’s easier sometimes to have someone to go against, but I was pleased to see that it didn’t really impact our scores. We were really focused.
“We had some really good scores tonight, and we tried to get everyone in to get some experience,” he added. “Our numbers were still good and that’s great to see. Azariah Daniels had a good first match, William White is so solid in the anchor spot, and guys like James Eason, Jullian Cline, Sam Thompson and Garret Mabe have shown so much potential.”
Raiders sting Yellow Jackets in first meeting
Using a rotation of eight bowlers, Richmond started its day with a 5-0 win over Lee County. Earning a final victory score of 684-442, individual game scores were 175-117, 185-126, 199-90 and 125-109.
The Raiders averaged 171 pins per game and knocked down 17 strikes and a team season-high 12 spares.
Senior anchor William White continued to be productive in the fifth and 10th frames, bowling eight strikes against the Yellow Jackets. The second game featured seven strikes, including a turkey from White in the final frame.
Five straight strikes started the third game, one each from Eason, Landon Taylor, Cline, Thompson and White. In the 10th frame, White added one more perfect role.
Cline, Eason and Landon Summerlin all had two strikes in the win, with Eason adding four spares. Summerlin had a spare, Taylor and Thompson both had one strike and two spares and Mabe recorded a strike and a spare.
Season-high 23 strikes highlight open match
Upping their game in their open match, the Raiders tacked on another 23 strikes, a single-match season-high for the team.
Game scores were 189, 147, 168 and 241 for a total of 745 pins, which was the team’s second-highest score this season, for an average of 186.3 pins per game.
The score of 241 pins in the final game also proved to be the team’s best score of the winter.
White rolled seven more strikes to finish with 15 on the day, two shy of his personal best from the season-opener.
Thompson recorded four strikes and Eason, Taylor and Summerlin all had three strikes. Mabe added two perfect rolls and Azariah Daniels picked up his first strike in his debut.
Richmond bowled six strikes in the first game, added two more in the second, had five strikes in the third game and closed with an impressive 10 strikes in the fourth contest.
Eason, Thompson, Summerlin, Taylor and Mabe each had one game where they respectively closed out both of their frames with a strike. White had four consecutive strikes in the finale, including three in a row in the 10th frame.
The team added 10 spares in the open match, including three apiece from White and Thompson. Cline had two and Mabe and Summerlin each chipped in one.
The Raiders (4-1, 18 points) have the next couple of weeks off for the holiday season and are set to return to SAC play on Jan. 5 at Laurinburg Lanes.
Richmond will face rival Scotland and start its second round of conference play against Southern Lee. The first match will start at 4 p.m.
