PINEHURST — The final fall sports program at Richmond Senior High School teed up for the first time this season Tuesday.
On the course at Pinehurst No. 6, the Lady Raider golf team faced Mid-South Conference opponents in a nine-hole match.
Richmond has had a lot of turnover between seasons, starting with a head coaching change. The team is now led by first-year head coach Kevin Wallace, who replaced former coach Keith Parsons, who left after seven seasons.
Two of Richmond’s four golfers return with experience from last season — sophomores Bayden Bendell and Talley Webb, the latter of whom was a regional qualifier as a freshman.
The Lady Raiders’ two newcomers this fall are sophomore Kennedy Baldwin and freshman Cadence McIver.
Facing host Pinecrest High School, along with other MSC teams Jack Britt, Overhills and Pine Forest high schools, Richmond placed third out of the four qualifying teams.
Finishing with a team score of 180, the Lady Raiders trailed third-place Jack Britt by 13 strokes. Pinecrest won the match with a score of 108, Overhills was fourth with a 188 and Pine Forest didn’t have enough golfers to qualify for the team score.
The top three scores from each team were combined to calculate the team score.
“The girls did a great job for their first match,” Wallace said. “We are a young team this year with three 10th graders and one 9th grader, so we plan to continue to grow and get better with each match.
“I’m excited to see how the program will grow over the next few years,” he added. “We have some talented golfers so we just have to fine-tune their skills and become more competitive from there.”
Webb, like she did all of last season, led the Lady Raiders on the scorecard. She posted a final score of 58 on the front nine.
McIver and Baldwin both shot a 61 in her respective high school debut, while Bendell rounded out the scoring with a 62.
Leading the field with a round-low score of 33 was Pinecrest’s London Fitzgerald. Teammates Ashley Lee (37) and Ira Joshi (38) were the other two golfers to finish in the top three overall spots.
Richmond’s next match is scheduled for Monday at Anderson Creek Golf Club in Fayetteville and will be hosted by Overhills. The nine-hole match will start at 3 p.m.
