LAURINBURG — Extending its winning streak to five matches, the Richmond Raider bowling team used a healthy balance of strikes and spares during Thursday’s action.
Picking up where they left off before the break, the Raiders rolled their way to two more Sandhills Athletic Conference victories.
Richmond closed out the first round of conference play with a 4-1 win over Scotland High School, before starting the second round with a 5-0 win against Southern Lee High School.
As a team, the Raiders knocked down 28 total spares, 14 in each match, which were single-match season highs.
Two bowlers locked in were junior James Eason and sophomore Sam Thompson. Eason closed 14-of-16 frames across the two matches (88%) and Thompson finished the day 9-of-13 (69%).
“James was hot tonight and really closed a lot of frames, as did Sam,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “Sometimes when someone is hot like that, I want to put him in the anchor, but I left James in the one-six spot because he was so comfortable.
“I’m proud of all the guys, who helped pick each other up when we didn’t have some of our best performances,” he added. “With two more wins, it’s good for the standings and we were able to get everyone in to get more experience. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Raiders close first round of conference with win over Scotland
Richmond’s highest-scoring match of the day was a 4-1 win over Scotland. The Raiders used scores of 190-161, 153-174, 198-158 and 181-160 to earn a final victory of 722-510.
Notching its third-highest average score of the season with 180.5 pins per game, Richmond bowled 18 strikes to go with its 14 spares. Eason closed seven of his eight frames, bowling five strikes and two spares.
Thompson was good on four of his six frames, adding four strikes to the win. Senior Jullian Cline also rolled four strikes and added a spare.
Fellow senior William White contributed from his usual anchor spot, finishing the match with three strikes and a team-high five spares. Joining in was sophomore Landon Summerlin, who rolled two strikes and three spares.
Rounding out the victory were sophomores Landon Taylor (2 spares) and Garret Mabe (1 spare).
Shutout of Southern Lee continues winning streak
In their second meeting with the Cavaliers, Richmond managed to blank its opponent 5-0, which was an improvement over a 3-2 win in the season opener.
Sixteen more strikes were put on the score sheet en route to scores of 213-114, 149-136, 167-140 and 148-140 to end the day with a 677-530 victory. Eason again went 7-of-8 and added four strikes and three spares.
White matched those numbers with four strikes and three spares himself, and Thompson closed out 5-of-7 frames with three strikes and two spares.
Averaging 169.3 pins per game, the Raiders used two strikes and a spare from both Cline and Mabe. Summerlin finished with one strike and three spares and Taylor closed the win with a spare.
Now 6-1 on the season with 27 points, the Raiders will bowl against Pinecrest and Hoke County high schools next Thursday in Aberdeen, starting at 4 p.m.
