ROCKINGHAM — It was a tough night on both sides of the ball for the Richmond Senior High School softball team Tuesday.
Concluding the first round of regular season play against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents, the Lady Raiders suffered a 15-0 loss to Scotland High School.
The game lasted five innings and Richmond didn’t record a hit or have a single base runner. Pitching the perfect game for Scotland was Avery Stutts, a University of Memphis commit.
Richmond went down in order in all five innings, striking out 11 times.
Senior pitcher Madelynn Pearson made the start for the Lady Raiders and threw 2.1 innings. She surrendered nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits and two walks.
Sophomore Emma Rusich pitched the remaining 2.2 innings and allowed six earned runs. She struck out a batter and also allowed nine hits.
Scotland (9-1, 6-0 SAC) scored solo runs in the first and fourth innings, four runs in both the second and third frames, and recorded its final five runs in the fifth.
The Lady Raiders (4-8, 2-4 SAC) host Southern Lee High School (2-8, 1-5 SAC) Friday at 6 p.m. to start the second round of conference play.
Sports editor’s note: Statistics and game information provided by Richmond’s Game Changer.
JV Lady Raiders
The Richmond junior varsity softball team stayed perfect in Sandhills Athletic Conference play Tuesday.
Also hosting Scotland, the JV Lady Raiders clobbered the JV Lady Scots 15-0 in mercy-rule fashion in four innings.
Freshman pitcher Madison Hancock threw a complete game. She struck out 10 batters and only allowed two hits.
A six-run bottom of the first inning put the JV Lady Raiders up comfortably. Freshman Liz Lunceford (single) scored the first run on a passed ball.
Freshman Sydney Barnes dug in three batters later and smoked a two-run homer over the wall in left field, scoring sophomore Madeline Carriker (single) to make it 3-0.
A pair of hit-by-pitches to freshmen Rylee Smith and Jordyn Chappell with the bases loaded, along with a bases-loaded free pass to Lunceford, scored the final three runs of the inning.
Hancock struck out the side in order in the top of the second, which led to another run for Richmond in the bottom half. Carriker led off with a single and later scored on a passed ball.
After a four-batter top of the third inning from Hancock, Richmond plated six more runs.
Sophomore Macie King extended the lead to 8-0 with a sac fly to center, scoring Smith (error). Barnes recorded her third RBI with an infield single back up the middle that scored Chappell all the way from second.
Hancock helped her cause with a two-RBI single with two outs, which was added to by freshman Annabelle Millen on the next pitch, another two-RBI base hit to make it a 13-0 lead.
Richmond’s final two runs came in the bottom of the fourth, starting with Lunceford tagging up on a pop out to short. King scored the final run when sophomore Kaylan Parsons reached on an error.
The JV Lady Raiders (4-1, 3-0 SAC) host Southwestern Randolph High School Thursday at 5 p.m. for a non-conference game.
Sports editor’s note: Statistics and game information provided by Richmond’s Game Changer.
