ROCKINGHAM – The Richmond Lady Raiders’ softball team is heading back to the Western Regional Finals for the second season in a row.
No. 1 Richmond punched its ticket to the semifinal round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A state playoffs with a convincing 7-0 win over No. 13 Hickory Ridge Saturday night.
After waiting for Hickory Ridge to win its third round game Friday against No. 3 Providence, the Lady Raiders (24-3) continued their dominant postseason play with their second consecutive shutout.
Oh, and not to mention, it was also a complete game no-hitter by junior ace Greyson Way.
Just a night after the Lady Ragin’ Bulls (18-6) tallied 11 runs and 14 hits against Providence, Way silenced their bats, going seven strong and facing only three batters over the minimum. In her 27 games pitched this season, Way (24-3) has pitched eight shutout games. On Tuesday in the third round, Way led Richmond from the circle against No. 8 Lake Norman, as they breezed past the Lady Wildcats 17-0.
“I just hit my spots tonight, whether they were inside or outside,” Way said following her no-hitter. “I tried to catch them off guard by switching up inside and outside pitches, and it worked really well tonight. My defense worked really well behind me tonight. I obviously couldn’t do it without them. I’m just proud to be a part of this team.”
“We went and watched Hickory Ridge play (Friday) night, and they put the bat on the ball,” head coach Wendy Wallace said. “Greyson did a very good job at keeping them guessing tonight. She went away and came back in and was able to freeze them on the inside corner. She was big for us.”
In the three playoff games they’ve played following a first-round bye, the Lady Raiders have outscored their opponents 36-2. Saturday’s game was the first time this postseason that Richmond hasn’t mercy-ruled an opposing team.
“We were aggressive from the start,” Wallace said, alluding to her team’s mantra at the plate. “That’s what we’ve been preaching — we want to jump out on teams early. It’s a good thing we were able to capitalize early tonight because their second pitcher battled hard.”
In what has become the season of the home run ball for the Lady Raiders, they added to their already impressive season total by belting two more against Hickory Ridge to bring their tally to 54. The NCHSAA all-time record is 55 set by Madison High School in 2014 — Richmond’s 54 tied Madison’s 2013 squad for second all-time in the state record books.
The home team’s bats would get the best of senior starting pitcher Hanna Hampel early, as Richmond would score all seven of its runs in the opening 1.2 innings of play. Hampel was chased from the circle with two outs in the bottom of the second after giving up seven earned runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs.
After a quick top half of the first inning, Richmond junior shortstop Savannah Lampley led off the home half with a ground ball single to the right side of the infield to get what would become a three-run inning started. Lampley reached second on an obstruction call by first baseman Kylie LaRousa, and dashed to third on a wild pitch by Hampel.
Senior catcher Owen Bowers, whose bat has been hot during postseason play, put Richmond on the board with a sacrifice fly to center field that pushed Ally Todaro to the warning track, with Lampley scoring easily.
Way helped out her cause by slapping a one-out double to center field, and would score three batters later when junior Taylor Parrish sent a ball to the left-center gap for an RBI double. Senior Brianna Baysek, who had drawn a walk following Way’s at-bat, scored the inning’s third run when freshman Paige Ransom flopped a bloop single into shallow left field.
The top of the second was the first of two straight 1-2-3 innings for Way, as she struck out the side, all swinging. Following her no-hitter Saturday, Way has now totaled 10 games of 10 strikeouts or more on the season, and it was her third game with 13 strikeouts. She also struck out 13 batters against Hoke County and Seventy-First high schools during the regular season. Her career best is 15 Ks against Whiteville High School, which Richmond defeated 1-0 on March 21st.
In the bottom half of the second inning, Richmond scored four runs on two two-run blasts by Bowers and sophomore first baseman Kayla Hawkins. Bowers struck first with one out, as she cranked her sixth home run in four games to center field, out-muscling a strong inward blowing wind. Her 10th homer of the season scored freshman Payton Chappell, who drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning.
Three batters later, Hawkins capped off the Lady Raiders’ scoring by dialing in on a Hampel pitch, a line drive two-run shot that bounced off the top of the fence and into the grass beyond the wall.
Neither team would manage to score any more runs, and Richmond wouldn’t get another hit, but Way continued to dominate. Hickory Ridge replaced Hampel following Hawkins’ longball with freshman Brittany Snyder, who had pitched in Friday’s third-round win over Providence.
Way got some defensive help to keep her no-hitter intact. In the top of the third inning, sophomore second baseman Jadyn Johnson made a nifty Willie Mays style catch in shallow right field to save a base hit. Two innings later, Chappell knocked down a would-be RBI single by LaRousa and made a head’s up play to throw the ball home to Bowers, who tagged out an advancing Jaylyn Gilliam at the plate.
Bowers also delivered in the sixth inning when she ended the frame by lasering a throw to Lampley at second base to catch Todaro trying to steal. In the game’s final inning, left fielder Madison Jordan and center fielder Baysek both made athletic catches to keep the game in check.
“We made big plays on defense,” Wallace said, adding that those are just as important this time of year. “I never felt we were in any big trouble, but Jadyn made a heck of a catch. Payton made a head’s up play to keep the ball in front of her because they score if she doesn’t do that. And our outfielders do such a good job of going back and tracking fly balls. They were all big outs when we needed them.”
On the night, Way led all players with two hits (double, single), with Bowers, Hawkins, Lampley, Parrish and Ransom getting the other five. Bowers’ three RBIs were a game-high, as she now has 13 RBIs in the postseason.
The Lady Raiders are on a road of redemption following last year’s exit in the Western Regional Finals, losing both games to North Davidson High School. While Wallace and company still remember that series, she’s confident her team will continue its 13-game winning streak.
“We’re hoping for a better outcome than last year, that’s for sure,” Wallace smiled. “We want to make sure that we win game one and don’t have to go on the road feeling like we have to win one back. We just need to jump out early, do what we’ve been doing, play good defense and try to score as early and often as we can.”
Richmond will face off against either No. 2 South Caldwell or No. 3 Mooresville early next week at home for the first game of the best-of-three game series. South Caldwell will host Mooresville Monday at 6 p.m. for their fourth-round contest. Wallace said it’s a possibility that Richmond will play Tuesday, but isn’t ruling out playing Wednesday.
The ROSports department will update game information as it’s made available.
