ROCKINGHAM - Nearly a month after what Richmond Senior High School head softball coach Wendy Wallace called an “unfinished season” came to a heartbreaking end, the Lady Raiders find themselves closing out the first top five selections in the Top 10 Sports Story countdown from the last school year.
Rolling in to the No. 6 spot is the Lady Raiders’ dominating and record-breaking playoff performances during the third and fourth rounds. While they may not have reached their ultimate goal of winning the program’s first state title, the Lady Raiders managed to rack up some big numbers against Lake Norman and Hickory Ridge high schools along the way.
In the third round game against the No. 8 Lady Wildcats, No. 1 overall seeded Richmond blasted its way to a 17-0 victory, while also setting the school record for most home runs in a game. Sending six longballs over the fence, senior Owen Bowers (2), freshman Paige Ransom (2), junior Greyson Way (1) and sophomore Kayla Hawkins (1) helped rewrite Richmond’s record book, while also tying a North Carolina state record, matching South Granville High School, which did it in 2015, as the only other school to do so in NCHSAA history.
After having to wait a couple of days due to inclement weather to square off against No. 13 Hickory Ridge, the Lady Raiders didn’t lose a step, as they shut down the Lady Ragin’ Bulls thanks for a complete-game no-hitter by junior ace Way. The 7-0 victory sent Wallace and company to their second straight Western Regional Finals appearance.
The dominant offensive performances during these two games was a reflection of Richmond’s explosive power-hitting lineup during the 2018 season. As a team, the Lady Raiders batted .403 and led the Sandhills Athletic Conference and the state in hits (329), doubles (83) and home runs (55).
Below are the original game stories written by sports editor Kyle Pillar on Wednesday, May 16, and Saturday, May 19:
Lady Raiders set school record with six home runs in third round rout of Lake Norman
ROCKINGHAM - Head coach Wendy Wallace commented Monday that she was “cautiously nervous” to face No. 8 Lake Norman High School in the third round of the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs.
But any anxiety was swept away when the No. 1 Lady Raiders’ bats slashed the Lady Wildcats 17-0 in five innings to advance to the fourth round. It was the sixth time Richmond scored at least 17 runs in a single game this season.
Behind a 14-hit performance, it was the barrage of home runs hit by the Lady Raiders (23-3) that sealed the deal, sending Lake Norman home for the season. Richmond blasted six homers on the night by four different players, and made the record books in the process.
The six longballs were the most in a single game by the Lady Raiders in program history, breaking the record of four (tied earlier this season at Hoke County on March 27). Senior Owen Bowers and freshman Paige Ransom each hit two homers, while junior Greyson Way and sophomore Kayla Hawkins had one each. Ranson’s bombs were her club-leading 10th and 11th of the year.
The Lady Raiders also tied a North Carolina state record when they blasted five of their six home runs in the fourth inning. The only other school in history to accomplish that feat is South Granville High School, which did it in 2015.
It was also another good night for Bowers at the plate, as she brought her season home run total to nine on the year. She’s hit five home runs over the course of the last three games, coming up big for the Lady Raiders in the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament championship and the second and third rounds of the state playoffs.
Bowers also tied a state record for most home runs in an inning, as she notched both of hers during a 12-run bottom of the fourth. The most recent player to do it was Glenn High School’s Tracy Haynes in 2014.
To date, the Lady Raiders have sent 52 balls over the fence, inching closer to the state’s all-time record of 55 set by Madison High School (Marshall, N.C.) in 2014 (according to the NCHSAA’s official record book).
“Once we adjusted to staying back on the pitch, we were able to hit the ball really hard,” Wallace said in a Live At 5 video interview after the game. “It’s huge (the way we’re hitting). If we can get all 12 girls, especially one through nine hitting, that’s good for us. The more offense we can put up, the more runs we can score, and the more pressure we can take off of our defense and pitching.”
Fortunately for both teams, the expected rain held off, save for a couple of drops early in the game. Way took to the circle in her 26th start of the season, and pitched a five-inning shutout gem, while allowing just two hits and striking out 10 Lady Wildcat batters. It was her seventh shutout performance of the season, and her sixth mercy-rule shutout.
The Lady Raiders did what Wallace has expected them to do all season, and that’s to get ahead on the scoreboard early. In front of a full house, senior Bri Baysek roped an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Savannah Lampley from second, who beat a throw to the plate.
After throwing six straight balls to start the game, and loading the bases in the second, Lake Norman lefty Alyssa Ingle was pulled after one inning of work. Replacing her in the circle was Amber Locasto, who would escape the jam by only allowing two runs to score. At the end of the third inning, Richmond held a 5-0 lead over Lake Norman (19-6).
To get there, freshman Payton Chappell ripped an RBI single in the second, and Lacasto walked in Madison Jordan with the bases loaded. Ransom hit her first dinger of the night with no outs in the third, a two-run blast, that was a towering moonshot that just stayed fair, hugging the foul pole and scoring Taylor Parrish who led off the inning with a walk.
But it was the bottom of fourth inning where the wheels fell off for the Lady Wildcats. Richmond would send 16 batters to the plate, score 12 runs, blast five home runs and walk away with a round three victory.
Bowers started the inning with a solo shot to left field, and after a single and a walk by Way and Baysek, Hawkins drilled a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to nearly the same place as Bowers’ first home run. Hawkins’ three-run homer was her eighth of the season and gave Richmond a 9-0 lead.
Two batters later, Ransom unloaded for her second homer run of the night, another two-run hit, this time also scoring Parrish (who had reached first on a dropped third strike). A Jordan walk and a double by Lampley setup Bowers’ second longball of the inning, a three-run blast to center field.
Way followed up with a solo shot of her own, her eighth of the year, by going back-to-back with Bowers. The Lady Raiders would end the night’s scoring with a pair of RBI doubles by Parrish and Ransom.
“I’ve just been really aggressive and looking for strikes,” Bowers said in a video interview. “I know they’re going to throw to me regardless because I have a good hitter behind me (Way) and a good hitter in front of me (Lampley). I’m just trying to catch it early and hit it on the barrel.
“This win is really good for us,” she concluded. “I think it shows us we need to step on the gas and keep putting runs up and keep shutting teams down. That really helps.”
On the night, nine of Richmond’s 10 batters collected at least one hit, with Ransom and Way leading the team with three each. Ransom also had a game-high five RBIs, and Bowers finished with four. With her double in the fourth inning, Lampley has now entered the 50/50 club, collecting 50 hits and 53 runs scored through 26 games this season.
With the win, Richmond advances to at least the fourth round of the state playoffs for the fourth straight year. The Lady Raiders will host the winner of No. 5 Providence High School (22-3) and No. 13 Hickory High School (17-5), which was rained out Tuesday. First pitch is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at Richmond Senior High School.
Way no-hits Hickory Ridge as Lady Raiders roll back to Western Regional Finals
ROCKINGHAM - The Richmond Lady Raiders’ softball team is heading back to the Western Regional Finals for the second season in a row.
No. 1 Richmond punched its ticket to the semifinal round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A state playoffs with a convincing 7-0 win over No. 13 Hickory Ridge Saturday night.
After waiting for Hickory Ridge to win its third round game Friday against No. 3 Providence, the Lady Raiders (24-3) continued their dominant postseason play with their second consecutive shutout.
Oh, and not to mention, it was also a complete game no-hitter by junior ace Greyson Way.
Just a night after the Lady Ragin’ Bulls (18-6) tallied 11 runs and 14 hits against Providence, Way silenced their bats, going seven strong and facing only three batters over the minimum. In her 27 games pitched this season, Way (24-3) has pitched eight shutout games. On Tuesday in the third round, Way led Richmond from the circle against No. 8 Lake Norman, as they breezed past the Lady Wildcats 17-0.
“I just hit my spots tonight, whether they were inside or outside,” Way said following her no-hitter. “I tried to catch them off guard by switching up inside and outside pitches, and it worked really well tonight. My defense worked really well behind me tonight. I obviously couldn’t do it without them. I’m just proud to be a part of this team.”
“We went and watched Hickory Ridge play (Friday) night, and they put the bat on the ball,” head coach Wendy Wallace said. “Greyson did a very good job at keeping them guessing tonight. She went away and came back in and was able to freeze them on the inside corner. She was big for us.”
In the three playoff games they’ve played following a first-round bye, the Lady Raiders have outscored their opponents 36-2. Saturday’s game was the first time this postseason that Richmond hasn’t mercy-ruled an opposing team.
“We were aggressive from the start,” Wallace said, alluding to her team’s mantra at the plate. “That’s what we’ve been preaching -- we want to jump out on teams early. It’s a good thing we were able to capitalize early tonight because their second pitcher battled hard.”
In what has become the season of the home run ball for the Lady Raiders, they added to their already impressive season total by belting two more against Hickory Ridge to bring their tally to 54. The NCHSAA all-time record is 55 set by Madison High School in 2014 -- Richmond’s 54 tied Madison’s 2013 squad for second all-time in the state record books.
The home team’s bats would get the best of senior starting pitcher Hanna Hampel early, as Richmond would score all seven of its runs in the opening 1.2 innings of play. Hampel was chased from the circle with two outs in the bottom of the second after giving up seven earned runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs.
After a quick top half of the first inning, Richmond junior shortstop Savannah Lampley led off the home half with a ground ball single to the right side of the infield to get what would become a three-run inning started. Lampley reached second on an obstruction call by first baseman Kylie LaRousa, and dashed to third on a wild pitch by Hampel.
Senior catcher Owen Bowers, whose bat has been hot during postseason play, put Richmond on the board with a sacrifice fly to center field that pushed Ally Todaro to the warning track, with Lampley scoring easily.
Way helped out her cause by slapping a one-out double to center field, and would score three batters later when junior Taylor Parrish sent a ball to the left-center gap for an RBI double. Senior Brianna Baysek, who had drawn a walk following Way’s at-bat, scored the inning’s third run when freshman Paige Ransom flopped a bloop single into shallow left field.
The top of the second was the first of two straight 1-2-3 innings for Way, as she struck out the side, all swinging. Following her no-hitter Saturday, Way has now totaled 10 games of 10 strikeouts or more on the season, and it was her third game with 13 strikeouts. She also struck out 13 batters against Hoke County and Seventy-First high schools during the regular season. Her career best is 15 Ks against Whiteville High School, which Richmond defeated 1-0 on March 21st.
In the bottom half of the second inning, Richmond scored four runs on two two-run blasts by Bowers and sophomore first baseman Kayla Hawkins. Bowers struck first with one out, as she cranked her sixth home run in four games to center field, out-muscling a strong inward blowing wind. Her 10th homer of the season scored freshman Payton Chappell, who drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning.
Three batters later, Hawkins capped off the Lady Raiders’ scoring by dialing in on a Hampel pitch, a line drive two-run shot that bounced off the top of the fence and into the grass beyond the wall.
Neither team would manage to score any more runs, and Richmond wouldn’t get another hit, but Way continued to dominate. Hickory Ridge replaced Hampel following Hawkins’ longball with freshman Brittany Snyder, who had pitched in Friday’s third-round win over Providence.
Way got some defensive help to keep her no-hitter intact. In the top of the third inning, sophomore second baseman Jadyn Johnson made a nifty Willie Mays style catch in shallow right field to save a base hit. Two innings later, Chappell knocked down a would-be RBI single by LaRousa and made a head’s up play to throw the ball home to Bowers, who tagged out an advancing Jaylyn Gilliam at the plate.
Bowers also delivered in the sixth inning when she ended the frame by lasering a throw to Lampley at second base to catch Todaro trying to steal. In the game’s final inning, left fielder Madison Jordan and center fielder Baysek both made athletic catches to keep the game in check.
“We made big plays on defense,” Wallace said, adding that those are just as important this time of year. “I never felt we were in any big trouble, but Jadyn made a heck of a catch. Payton made a head’s up play to keep the ball in front of her because they score if she doesn’t do that. And our outfielders do such a good job of going back and tracking fly balls. They were all big outs when we needed them.”
On the night, Way led all players with two hits (double, single), with Bowers, Hawkins, Lampley, Parrish and Ransom getting the other five. Bowers’ three RBIs were a game-high, as she now has 13 RBIs in the postseason.
The Lady Raiders are on a road of redemption following last year’s exit in the Western Regional Finals, losing both games to North Davidson High School. While Wallace and company still remember that series, she’s confident her team will continue its 13-game winning streak.
“We’re hoping for a better outcome than last year, that’s for sure,” Wallace smiled. “We want to make sure that we win game one and don’t have to go on the road feeling like we have to win one back. We just need to jump out early, do what we’ve been doing, play good defense and try to score as early and often as we can.”
Richmond will face off against either No. 2 South Caldwell or No. 3 Mooresville early next week at home for the first game of the best-of-three game series. South Caldwell will host Mooresville Monday at 6 p.m. for their fourth-round contest. Wallace said it’s a possibility that Richmond will play Tuesday, but isn’t ruling out playing Wednesday.
The No. 5 top sports story from this past school year will be released in Tuesday’s edition.
