FAYETTEVILLE - The Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ bowling teams continued Sandhills Athletic Conference play at Lafayette Lanes in Fayetteville on Thursday. The Raiders and Lady Raiders each went 1-1 on the day, both earning victories over Seventy-First and falling to Pinecrest high schools.
“The boys and girls both won against Seventy-First,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “The boys won all four games and the girls won three. Overall, I think we did a better job of closing out frames. The girls made a huge improvement, getting closer to 50 percent. The boys have been hovering around the 50 percent mark all year, and I would like us get that number up to around 70 percent.”
The Lady Raiders did not fare well in the opening match with Pinecrest. The Lady Patriots had established a 130-pin average in the first two weeks of conference play, and Richmond entered the day averaging 115 pins per game. In order to compete with Pinecrest, the Lady Raiders needed to improve their pin count by 15 or hope that the Pinecrest bowlers might struggle.
After falling 98-148 and 94-124 in the first two games, the Lady Raiders caught a break. Pinecrest failed to reach the century mark for only the second time this season, allowing Richmond to steal a 103-97 victory.
Richmond managed to keep it close in game four, but the Lady Patriots pulled out a narrow victory, 118-128. Pinecrest earned an additional point for having the best total pin score giving the Lady Patriots a 4-1 match win over Richmond.
It didn’t appear as though things were going to get better for the Lady Raiders in their second match of the day. Their opponent, Seventy-First, rolled a 134 in game one – a season best for the Lady Falcons. Richmond only managed 107 pins giving Seventy-First an early 1-0 lead and a 27-point advantage in total pins.
The Lady Raiders rebounded in a big way. They defeated the Lady Falcons 127-76, 141-129, and 136-93 in the remaining three games to secure a 4-1 victory. The series score of 511 was a season high for Richmond.
In the boys matches, the Raiders struggled in the second game of their series with Pinecrest finishing with an 87 – the lowest score rolled by an SAC team that day. However, they managed to bowl above their season average of 131 in the remaining three games (151, 182, 134) to finish with a season high series score of 554.
The 182 rolled by the Raiders in the third game was also season high single-game score for Richmond this season. Unfortunately, it was also the only score high enough to earn the Raiders a win against a really strong Patriot team that bowled a 620 series and took the match 4-1 over Richmond.
“The pin totals for Pinecrest this year have been great,” Butler noted. “So, I was pleased that both the boys and girls were able to pick up a (game) win against them. The boys nearly had a split, but came up a few points short in game four.
“Savannah Lampley continued her solid play, but Autumn Hoffman and Kayla Howell stepped up this week picking up frames and not leaving so many open,” he added. “For the boys, Tyler Bass and Cameron Carraway were big closing out more frames than anyone.”
Like the Lady Raiders, the Raiders improved their numbers in their second match of the day against Seventy-First. The Raiders edged the Falcons by a mere two pins in the opening game of the series (135-133).
After that, Richmond easily dispatched of Seventy-First in the remaining three games (143-129, 148-98, 144-133) to earn a 5-0 sweep at the Falcons’ home alley. The Raiders’ 570 total pin score for the match surpassed their season best that they had just set moments earlier against Pinecrest.
Richmond will continue action Thursday, Dec. 13, in Laurinburg. Both teams will bowl against Hoke County and Purnell Swett high schools. Matches begin at 4 p.m.
“Strikes Bowling Alley (in Rockingham) has been very supportive of the Richmond bowling team,” Butler concluded. “They let us use the lanes on Tuesday and Wednesday of each week to prepare for matches. The new owners, Steve and Angel Thompson, have been great. They continue to make improvements to the bowling center and I would just like to thank them for all their support.”
Deon Cranford and Kyle Pillar contributed to this story.
