ROCKINGHAM - In February, Richmond Senior High School’s head softball coach Wendy Wallace sat at a picnic table near the Lady Raiders’ softball field and made it clear that her team’s primary objective during the 2018 season was to win the program’s first state title.
While the last three months have been filled with record-breaking performances, a sixth-straight conference title, a Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament championship, a handful of no-hitters, a No. 1 overall seed in the NCHSAA 4A playoffs and an SAC-best five all-conference selections, the Lady Raiders came up just shy of achieving their preseason goal.
For the second consecutive season, Wallace’s crew of competitive players steamrolled their way through the regular season and the opening four rounds of the state playoffs. But unfortunately, also for the second consecutive season, Richmond’s championship hopes were thwarted, this time falling to South Caldwell High School in two games in the Western Regional Finals.
And for Wallace, who traded her picnic table in for an exclusive sit-down interview in RSHS’ media center last week, only one word comes to mind about the Lady Raiders’ 2018 campaign -- unfinished.
“Unfinished,” Wallace said when asked to describe the season in one word. “We didn’t reach our ultimate goal and we came up just short. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it makes the (players) coming back chomping at the bit and ready to go.
“We’re already thinking of next season, and we’ll be ready to go,” she continued. “The girls aren’t satisfied, and now we have some unfinished business to take care of. I’ve tried not to think about the abrupt end to our season, but that’s the reality sometimes. We want to go back next year and win.”
Also during her preseason chat with the ROSports department, Wallace commented that this year’s team was the “most athletic” crew she’s ever had top to bottom in her 12 years at the helm of the program. And her claim proved to be true, as the 11 Lady Raiders players dominated the SAC on both sides of the ball, thanks to a power-hitting lineup and the emergence of junior ace Greyson Way.
EXPLOSIVE, RECORD-BREAKING LINEUP
Richmond tallied a 24-5 overall record and a perfect 14-0 record against conference opponents in the regular season, sweeping competition in the SAC tournament in May to win its second tournament title in three years. The Lady Raiders haven’t lost a regular season matchup against a conference foe since April 12, 2016, at Scotland High School.
As a team this season, the Lady Raiders led every major offensive category in the SAC. They batted an impressive .403 as a team (Lumberton High School was second with .370), while collecting a conference best in hits (329; Jack Britt High School had 322), doubles (83, Jack Britt had 79) and home runs (55; Jack Britt had 36).
After starting the season with a hard-fought 4-0 loss to Marlboro Academy, the Lady Raiders started their first of two eight-plus game winning streaks on the season. Richmond won eight straight games leading up to spring break, falling 5-3 to West Stanly High School in a non-conference road game on March 28. After finishing second at the Beach Diamond Invitational at West Brunswick High School in early April, the Lady Raiders picked themselves up and started a season-high 13-game winning streak that ended with their departure in the state playoffs.
It was also the year of records-to-be-broken, as the Lady Raiders rewrote numerous categories in the program’s record book, while also breaking and tying a couple of state records along the way. Many of the new records were set on Friday, April 20, against SAC cellar-dweller Seventy-First High School, which ended in a 34-1 thrashing of the Lady Falcons. The game, which only lasted four innings due to being called early by Seventy-First, saw four new records set.
First, Richmond’s 34 runs scored were the most in program history, surpassing the 30 runs it scored against Westover High School in 2008. The Lady Raiders also nabbed new program-highs in runs-batted-in (28), most players to score multiple runs in a game (nine) and most individual players to hit a double in a game (six).
Three nights before, also against the Lady Falcons, freshman Paige Ransom smoked her eighth home run of the season, which surpassed Way’s freshman record of seven from 2016. Ransom would finish her freshman campaign with 11 bombs, which led the SAC.
Speaking of home runs hit, the 55 dingers the Lady Raiders hit in 29 games this season (1.90 home runs per game) tied the NCHSAA record for most in a season (Madison High School hit 55 in 2014). Junior Taylor Parrish tied the record with a smashmouth grand slam against South Caldwell in game two of the Western Regional Finals.
The Lady Raiders also blasted a program-best six home runs against Lake Norman High School in the third round of the state playoffs, breaking the school’s previous record of four in a game. Owen Bowers (two), Ransom (two), Way (one) and Kayla Hawkins (one) combined to tie the state record previously set by South Granville High School in 2015.
“We had a great regular season and we won the conference tournament, so there were a lot of ups,” Wallace said of her players at the dish. “Offensively, to hit 55 home runs, that’s huge. And Owen finished her career with the school’s home run record (hit 31 over her four years and drilled 10 homers in 2018).
“Our lineup was explosive all year,” Wallace added. “We scored a lot of runs, and one through nine, we were able to produce runs consistently night in and night out. But the big difference was our six through nine hitters being able to hit consistently. Paige, Taylor, Madison (Jordan) and Payton (Chappell) were all hitting above .360, and that was a big positive for us. It was nice to break all of those records, but we wanted to win a state championship.”
WAY EMERGES AS TOP PITCHER
Way was another breakout player this season, continuing her threat at the plate (hit eight home runs and led the team with 41 RBIs). But she also settled in as one of the top pitchers in the state, throwing every inning in Richmond’s 29 games. Way tallied a 24-5 record, and kept her earned run average at 1.93, which was ranked in the top 10 in the state. She also allowed just 49 earned runs on 121 hits, and held her opponents to a respectable .180 batting average.
Most impressively, she led 4A competition in innings pitched (177.1 innings) and strikeouts (252). Way canned 35 percent of all the batters she faced, and threw four no-hitters, with her only seven-inning no-no coming against Hickory Ridge High School in a 7-0 win in the fourth round of the playoffs. Way was named the SAC’s “Player of the Year,” and moved within one home run of tying Bowers’ program record.
“For Greyson to step in as the top pitcher, she had a phenomenal year,” Wallace said of her right-handed ace. “She was able to hit her spots and strike out batters consistently. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, and she busted her butt all offseason to get ready to take over the starting pitcher role.
“She’s a little bit of a different style of pitcher than we’ve had the last couple of years,” Wallace continued. “She throws really hard and isn’t a finesse pitcher, and doesn’t change speeds often. But she threw strikes, pounded the ball on batters’ hands and allowed the defense to make plays behind her. She’s only a junior, so she’ll be back to do it all again next year.”
FIVE LADY RAIDERS NAMED TO ALL-SAC TEAM
In a previous Richmond Observer article, Wallace had five of her players named to the All-SAC team. They were: Bowers (catcher, third selection), Ransom (right fielder; first selection), Way (pitcher; second selection), senior Brianna Baysek (center fielder; second selection) and junior Savannah Lampley (shortstop; third selection). All five players had a significant impact on the Lady Raiders’ season, both in the batter’s box and at their respective defensive position.
Lampley is the only current roster player to make the All-SAC team every year of her career. She led Richmond with a .535 batting average, a .629 on-base percentage, and also maintained a 21-game hitting streak. The junior also led the state in three offensive categories: runs scored (56), stolen bases (36) and doubles (17). Her 53 total hits were a team-best, and second in 4A play (Cary High School’s Sage Caskey had 54).
For a full recap of each of the five All-SAC selections, including exclusive quotes, click here.
TOP MOMENTS OF THE 2018 SEASON
The 2018 season was not only filled with a plethora of broken records and individual and team accolades, but it was also overwhelmingly filled with dramatic walk-off wins and clutch come-from-behind victories.
Way tossed her first two no-hitters of the season in the third week of play, both of which were five-inning mercy-rule victories against Pinecrest High School. A week later, on March 21, the Lady Raiders earned a 1-0 victory over Whiteville High School in a non-conference matchup at home. Lampley dug into the batter’s box to lead off the bottom of the first inning and muscled the fourth pitch she saw from Ivy Hayes over the right-center wall for a solo shot for the game’s only run. It was Lampley’s first of four home runs on the season, but it wasn’t her most explosive.
Two nights later, Richmond welcomed in SAC foe and eventual 4A state champion Jack Britt for the second meeting in three days. The Lady Raiders were in trouble of taking their first conference loss in nearly two seasons when they were trailing the Lady Buccaneers 8-2 entering the home half of the sixth inning. But then Lady Raider Magic struck.
Ransom got things started in the sixth with a two-run blast over the left field wall. Entering the seventh, Richmond still trailed by four runs -- and with the resiliency of several bats, Bowers, Way and Baysek would stir the pot and make things interesting. Baysek drove in Bowers on an RBI single, and Parrish delivered with a two-out two-RBI double, cutting the deficit to 8-7. Ransom delivered for the second times in as many innings, tying the game with a laser off the center field wall to score Parrish.
Both teams would trade scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth inning. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, Chappell led off with a single. On the very first pitch in the next at-bat, Lampley sent a ball into orbit over the right field wall, towering way above the scoreboard to give Richmond a 10-8 walkoff victory. In the season series, the Lady Raiders beat Jack Britt all three times.
The final clutch performance of the season came against Scotland on senior night on April 27. The Lady Fighting Scots were the last team to hand Richmond a conference loss two seasons ago, and were threatening to do so again after jumping out to 7-0 lead through four innings of play. Single runs by the Lady Raiders in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings cut the deficit to 8-3.
Trailing by five runs and down to their final three outs, the Lady Raiders didn’t quit. For the second time this season, they erased a big deficit to win in walkoff fashion, this time courtesy of Chappell. Richmond would bat through the lineup in the bottom of the seventh, with Lampley and Bowers scoring on a three-run blast by Way. Cutting the deficit to two runs, Baysek followed up in the next at-bat and blasted a shot to dead center field, pulling within a run.
Back-to-back singles by Hawkins and Parrish kept the rally alive with no outs, but two quick outs by the seven and eight hitters gave Chappell one last opportunity to make something happen. On the first pitch she saw, Chappell poked a bloop single to no-man’s land in shallow left field, easily scoring Hawkins. Wallace sent courtesy runner Jadyn Johnson home and she beat the throw, giving Richmond its second major come-from-behind win of the season 9-8.
“My favorite moments from this year are the walkoff wins against Jack Britt and Scotland,” Wallace recalled, smiling. “The girls never quit and we just figured out a way to score a bunch of runs late in those games.
“The biggest pleasant surprise this year was the production from the bottom of our lineup,” the head coach added. “We expected our one through five hitters to produce, but our six through nine hitters (Parrish, Ransom, Jordan and Chappell) were very consistent. Paige was a pleasant surprise -- I didn’t expect her to lead the conference with 11 home runs, but I’m glad she did. All of those girls found a way to contribute.”
MOVING FORWARD TO 2019
Despite the “abrupt ending” to the 2018 season, Wallace remains confident that her squad will be primed and ready to go for another deep postseason run in 2019. Granted she’ll be without three seniors, who are Bowers (Florida SouthWestern State College commit), Baysek (UNC Wilmington) and situational hitter/fielder Mackenzie Webb (UNC Chapel Hill). But with the core of Lampley, Way, Parrish and Ransom, among others returning, a state title run isn’t out of the question. As a matter of fact, it will still be the ultimate goal of the Lady Raiders in 2019.
And it’s never too early to start thinking about, and preparing for, a run at history.
“The physical talent will be there,” Wallace commented on her anticipated team for next season. “But we will need to focus on the talent level we have and continue to improve it. And we need to work on our mental toughness. This year in the Western Regional Finals, we needed to be more mentally prepared. But we will take that experience, learn from it, grow from it and put it in our own hands for next season.
“As a whole, we did have a lot more positives than negatives this year,” Wallace concluded. “We had the best offensive season since I’ve been here. And we’re going to build on that for next year. Owen, Bri and Mackenzie will be gone, but we have talent and tradition. And we’ll always want to perform at a high level.”
The ROSports department would like to congratulate the Lady Raiders on their season well played.
