ROCKINGHAM — Handing the conference leader its first loss to a Mid-South Conference opponent this season was a pretty good way for the Richmond Senior High School softball team to end its week Friday.
Bouncing back from an eight-run loss on the road Tuesday at Hoke County High School, the Lady Raiders were dialed in on their home diamond.
Doing all of its scoring in the first two innings, Richmond held on to the lead and relied on its pitching and defense to earn a 3-2 victory.
Hoke County (13-4, 5-1) entered the game having not lost to an MSC team in five tries, but the Lady Raiders and starting sophomore pitcher Madison Hancock had other plans.
Hancock pitched a completed game in the victory and limited the Lady Bucks to just two runs (one earned) on six hits. She also finished the game with six strikeouts.
Continuing her impressive senior campaign, Hayden Robinson delivered at the plate with two hits, including a home run, and a team-high two runs batted in.
After an error and an RBI double allowed Hoke County to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Richmond responded with a solo run in the home half and two more runs in the bottom of the second.
The Lady Bucks managed to get a run back in the top of the fifth, but Hancock and the defense shut down their bats in the final two innings.
Hancock stranded two runners in scoring position in a five-batter second inning, and followed that with back-to-back four-batter innings in the third and fourth stanzas that left two combined runners on base.
A 1-2-3 top of the sixth by Hancock was nearly repeated in the seventh when she faced just four batters and left the potential tying run at first base.
From the leadoff spot in the bottom of the first, Robinson took just three pitches to knot the game 1-1 when she sent her team-leading seventh home run of the season into orbit over the fence to straightaway center field.
After Hancock escaped the potential threat in the top of the second, timely hitting by the Lady Raiders proved to provide enough run support in the home half.
With one away, sophomore Sydney Barnes smoked a double for the first of her two hits in the game. She moved to third base following an error on the relay back to the infield.
Sophomore Lexi Smith dug in and did a job when she recorded an RBI groundout to first base, plating Barnes and making it a 2-1 lead.
With two gone, junior Emma Rusich (walk) and freshman Lyra Newton (single) put two runners on base for Robinson.
Getting just underneath an offering from pitcher Niya Jones, Robinson recorded her second RBI when a well-placed fly ball fell into the outfield grass in left field, giving Rusich enough time to race home from second for the eventual game-winning run.
Maintaining the two-run advantage until the top of the fifth, Richmond allowed Hoke County to score its final run on a two-out RBI single.
Hancock’s 1-2-3 sixth featured a fly out, a pop out and a ground out. A strikeout and a pop out to the first two batters is how the top of the seventh started. Following a two-out single, Barnes hauled in the final out on a routine catch in right field.
Richmond had six hits in the win – two by Robinson (home run, double), two from Barnes (double, single) and a base hit apiece from Hancock and Newton.
By splitting the season series with Hoke County, Richmond remained in second place in the MSC standings and trails the Lady Bucks by just one game.
Next for the Lady Raiders (6-10, 4-2 MSC) is an away non-conference game at Anson High School (4-13) Monday. The varsity-only game will start at 6 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Game information and statistics provided by Richmond’s GameChanger.
