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OUT OF THE ‘PARKS’: Lady Raiders walk it off against rival Scotland on senior night

The Lady Raiders celebrate Makayla Parks' walk-off homer in Thursday's win over Scotland.
Kyle Pillar — Sports Editor.

 

ROCKINGHAM — One swing of the bat by junior Makayla Parks helped the Richmond softball team earn a walk-off win against rival Scotland High School during senior night on Thursday.

In what proved to be a pitchers’ duel between Richmond’s Quston Leviner and Scotland’s Avery Stutts, the Lady Raiders closed their regular season with a 2-1 victory.

Prior to the game, seniors Kenleigh Frye and Allyiah Swiney were recognized for their contributions to the program by coaches, teammates, family members and fans. 

Both have been four-year starters for the Lady Raiders, and will continue playing college softball. Swiney will play at Campbell University and Frye will attend Wingate University.

Allyiah Swiney and Kenleigh Frye (front row) celebrated senior night on Thursday. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

The win for Richmond handed Scotland its first Sandhills Athletic Conference loss of the spring, and spoiled the Lady Scots’ chance at their first undefeated conference record since 2011.

Both starting pitchers put up zeroes in the scoring column until the final inning of the game, starting with one run by Scotland in the top of the seventh inning. 

A one-out single by Kadence Sheppard saw her later score on a throwing error for Scotland’s lone run of the game.

The Lady Raiders’ defense was a big factor in the win, making several run-saving plays to limit Scotland’s offense. Following the run in the seventh, sophomore right fielder Christi Jacobs started an inning-ending double play.

She caught a Raven Taylor fly ball and fired the ball home to junior catcher Macy Steen, who applied the tag on Taylor Waitley, who was trying to tag on the play.

Junior catcher Macy Steen cheers after she applied a tag at the plate in the seventh inning. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

That sent Richmond to the plate, and Frye got the rally started with a one-out double to right field. The extra-base knock was just one of three hits for Richmond in the game.

In the next at-bat, Parks sent the second offering from Stutts over the left-center wall for the walk-off home run. It was Parks’ team-leading fifth longball of the season.

Leviner, who allowed five hits and had one strikeout, pitched her way out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second and fourth innings.

In the top of the second, Leviner caught a pop up to end the threat. With the bases loaded in the fourth, Swiney recorded a diving catch for the first out and a Scotland base runner was called out for leaving third base early.

The final out of the fourth came on a line drive to center field, which was caught by sophomore Addy Hollingsworth, making the catch on the run.

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Swiney recorded Richmond’s only other hit, a single in the bottom of the fourth, which was the Lady Raiders’ first base runner of the game.

Junior pitcher Quston Leviner throws a pitch during the second inning of Thursday’s win. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

Richmond (12-4, 9-3 SAC) will now await the final seeding for the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, which will begin next week. 

The Lady Raiders are currently in second place in the SAC standings, according to MaxPreps.

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Senior Kenleigh Frye talks about getting the seventh-inning rally started and fellow senior Allyiah Swiney notes how Richmond’s pitching and defense kept the Lady Raiders in the game.

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Junior Makayla Parks hit the walk-off two-run homer and breaks down the pivotal at-bat during Richmond’s 2-1 win over Scotland. Coach Mike Way says it’s the best game the team has played all year.

JV Lady Raiders end season with a loss

The Richmond junior varsity softball team also hosted Scotland on Thursday and saw its season come to an end with an 8-3 loss.

The game was called after four innings due to the time limit, and the JV Lady Raiders scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Scotland scored four runs in the first and two runs in both the second and third innings.

Freshman Jakayla Steele had one of Richmond’s four hits, a triple that scored two runs.

Sophomores Kady Harris and Keyoni Nichols both added a double, and freshman Maddie Pearson had a single.

Pearson also pitched a complete game for the JV Lady Raiders and recorded four strikeouts.

The JV Lady Raiders recorded a 5-7 overall record this spring.



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.