FAYETTEVILLE — Thursday proved to be the best outing of the season for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ bowling teams.
Competing in their fourth Sandhills Athletic Conference meet of the winter at Lafayette Lanes, the Raiders and Lady Raiders both recorded their highest pin totals on their way to splitting matches against Hoke County and Pinecrest high schools.
Richmond would sweep Hoke County’s teams before both teams would fall to Pinecrest. Entering the day, the Bucks were one spot ahead of the Raiders in the conference standings, so the win proved to be a “big one” for the boys according to head coach Ralph Butler.
In their match against the Bucks, the Raiders earned a 4-1 victory. They won three of the four individual games, while also taking the final pin total with a season-high 677 pins. Game scores were 203-155, 191-179, 153-102 and 130-139, with a final score of 677-630.
The first game, which saw Joseph Grant, Hunter Hancock, Mitchell Massey, Cameron Way and William White bowl for Richmond, put up the team’s first 200-plus game of the season. Butler added it’s the first game over the 200-pin mark since he took over the program last season.
White, a freshman, was Richmond’s best bowler against the Bucks, as he closed out seven of his eight frames (88 percent). He tallied five strikes and two spares, while the other four bowlers combined to close out 23 of their 36 frames (64 percent) against Hoke County.
Hancock was the best Raider on the day, closing 11 of his 14 frames (79 percent), while Way was productive in closing nine of his 14 frames 64 percent).
“For the second week in a row, the boys bowled really well,” Butler said. “The oil is heavy (on the lanes) early on, and our hook bowlers are doing really good right now. We had a great match against Hoke and that will help us in the standings.
“When we played Pinecrest, the oil had dried up so I switched to some of our guys who bowl straight,” he added of Tyler Bittle, Cody Eason and Luke Preslar. “We were able to get Pinecrest one time which is always good.”
Butler noted White “had a really good match against Hoke” and said the freshman took advantage of finding his rhythm early on.
William White watches his ball just before bowling a strike against Hoke County.
For the Lady Raiders, it was senior Hailey Miller who led the way against the Lady Bucks. She went 5-of-8 in her frames for a closing percentage of 63 percent. On the day, Miller proved to be the best Lady Raider, closing out 10 of her 16 total frames (63 percent).
The girls would defeat the Lady Bucks 3.5-1.5 behind game scores of 96-127, 103-76, 94-94 and 160-98. In the final pin count, the Lady Raiders defeated Hoke County 453-395.
As a team, Richmond’s girls would complete 14-of-41 frames against Hoke County (34 percent). Junior Josie Standridge was tied for second on the team with a closing percentage of 50 percent (8-of-16), while senior Autumn Hoffman’s 5-for-10 was also 50 percent.
Against Pinecrest, the reigning state champions, the Lady Raiders split two games but lost by just 30 total pins, 507-537. Richmond won games three (113-110) and four (121-98). Bowling in that match were Miller, Standridge, Hoffman, Kayla Howell, Amber Henson, Hannah Bennett and Carley Lambeth.
“The girls didn’t bowl as good as they could have against Hoke, but they still got the win which is the big thing,” Butler explained. “They bowled one of their better performances against Pinecrest and I’m so impressed by that.
“There’s not as big of a gap in the standings for the girls, so losing by just 30 pins wasn’t that bad,” he added. “If we can keep these numbers up, they have a real chance at moving up the standings.”
The boys would drop three of their four games, as well as the final pin total 494-594. Closing out strong against the Patriots, the Raiders won the fourth game 154-129.
Butler credited both teams’ efforts in practice the last couple of weeks, adding more and more bowlers have gotten better at picking up spares, which continues to raise the pin totals. He’s also “shortening the lineups,” as individual bowlers emerge as being more consistent in the lanes.
Richmond will continue to practice over the holiday break before closing its regular season at Laurinburg Lanes on Jan. 9. Matches will start at 4 p.m.
