LAURINBURG — Unfortunately for the Richmond Senior High School softball team the third time wasn’t the charm Tuesday.
Facing neighboring rival Scotland High School for the third time this season, the Lady Raiders suffered their third mercy-rule defeat.
No. 1 Scotland rolled to a 15-0 win in four innings over No. 4 Richmond in the semifinal round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament.
The Lady Fighting Scots scored two runs in the first, three runs in the second and opened it up with five runs in both the third and fourth frames.
At the plate, the Lady Raiders connected for two hits against starting pitcher Avery Stutts (4 innings, 2 hits, 9 Ks).
Sophomore Kalynn McCormick barreled up a double and senior Jakayla Steele had a single. They were Richmond’s only base runners in the game.
Senior Madelynn Pearson pitched 3.1 innings for the Lady Raiders, ending the night with 13 earned runs on 13 hits with one strikeout.
The Lady Raiders’ regular season came to an end with a 9-17 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the SAC standings.
Finishing as the second of the three 4A programs in the split conference, Richmond will await the release of the NCHSAA’s 4A East playoff brackets Monday.
The team is currently ranked 35th in RPI at the time of publication and is on the outside looking in for the postseason.
