LAURINBURG — Competing in its final regular season contest Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team put forth a strong effort.
Due to scheduling changes, only the Raiders’ first of two matches Thursday counted toward the win-loss column.
Head coach Chris Larsen explained that Richmond’s match against Pinecrest, which resulted in a 4-1 win, was the “final regular season match.”
The Raiders also bowled against Scotland High School, but no official score was kept as the two teams bowled four games each, which counted toward the end-of-season total pin count for the conference tournament.
With their win over Pinecrest, the Raiders finished the regular season with 19 points in the final standings. Larsen said depending on the results of other teams in the conference, Richmond will either be the No. 4 or No. 5 seed in next week’s conference championship.
Season-highs highlight win over Pinecrest
Facing Pinecrest for the first time this season, the Raiders won three of the four games and the pin count to secure the three-point win.
Game scores were 141-128, 169-143, 192-182 and 152-161 for a final score of 654-614 in Richmond’s favor.
The Raiders recorded single-match season-highs in single-game score (192), total pins (654) and average game score (163.5). Richmond bowled a total of 13 strikes and 13 spares, closing out 26-of-41 frames (63.4%).
Three Raiders – seniors Azariah Daniel and Carter Visingard, with sophomore Mason Taylor – finished the match 6-for-8 with a .750 closing percentage. That was a new season-high for Visingard and Daniel matched his best performance of the season.
Daniel finished the match with three strikes and three spares, and bowled the anchor spot in the first two games. Taylor and Visingard each contributed to the win with two strikes and four spares each.
Senior Owen Hancock rolled three strikes and two spares in his eight frames (56%), splitting the anchor duties with Daniel. Fellow senior Tate Craven bowled three strikes for his three closed frames (38%).
Pins stack up in meeting with Scotland
In their second contest of the day, the Raiders kept up the productivity and ended with a new single-match season-high closing percentage (.636). Thanks to 13 strikes and 15 spares, they closed 28-of-44 frames.
Adding to their end-of-season pin total, the Raiders bowled game scores of 151, 155, 138 and 161 for a tally of 605 pins.
Putting a cap on 88% of his frames, Taylor went 7-for-8 with three strikes and four spares to lead the team, which marked his best match performance of the season.
Daniel was again at 75% (9-of-12) with three strikes and six spares. Craven and Visingard added to the score with matching .630 closing percentages (5-of-8). Craven had three strikes and two spares and Visingard knocked two two strikes and three helpers.
Hancock added two perfect rolls to the scoresheet. As a team, the Raiders combined for their best closing percentage in two matches this season, going 54-for-85 (63.5%).
The Raiders (4-3) will return to the lanes next Thursday for what Larsen said will be a doubles format to help bowlers prepare for the postseason. That event will be held at the Sandhills Bowling Center and teams will look to add to their season pin count totals.
Next week’s meet will also be senior night for the Raiders’ five senior bowlers. That will begin at 3:30 p.m.
