CHARLOTTE — The bats were alive Thursday for the Richmond Senior High School softball team, which won its second game of the season.
Snapping a two game slide and earning their second victory in seven games this season, the Lady Raiders defeated East Mecklenburg High School 25-9 in five innings.
Head coach Caroline Wilson explained the game was called in the bottom of the fifth inning due to darkness (no lights) and the win was finalized Friday morning after East Mecklenburg tried to rule the matchup an “unofficial game.”
Senior Madelyn Pearson (3 innings) and freshman Carley McCormick (1 inning) split the pitching duties for Richmond. Both players allowed just one earned run each on two hits and Pearson struck out five batters.
Trailing 1-0 to start the second inning, Richmond tied the game when sophomore Emma Rusich (single) scored on an error on a fly ball by Pearson.
The Lady Eagles plated three runs in the home half to lead 4-1 after two complete frames.
A four-run top of the third inning erased Richmond’s deficit for good. Back-to-back one-out singles by junior Hayden Robinson and senior Jakayla Steele made it a one-run game.
Robinson tied the game at four runs when she scored on a passed ball and Steele later scored on an error with junior Kinsie Lyerly at the plate to put Richmond ahead.
A 1-2-3 inning from Pearson in the bottom half paved the way to a 12-run top of the fourth that broke the game wide open. Getting the inning started were RBI singles from senior Trinity Lockhart and sophomore Kalynn McCormick, which made it 7-4.
Both runners scored in the next at-bat with Robinson at the dish, who lined a shot to left field and reached on an error to pad the lead to five runs. An RBI double to the gap by Rusich and another error on a Lyerly fly ball scored two more runs.
Later in the inning with two outs, freshman Mackenzie Quick brought in Lyerly and Pearson (walk) with a two-RBI single. Leading 13-4, Richmond’s final four runs of the inning came via an error (two runs scored), another error and an RBI double from Steele.
Five runs in the bottom half of the inning cut Richmond’s lead to 17-9, but the Lady Raiders answered with an eight-run top of the fifth inning.
A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by McCormick with no outs started the big inning. Freshman Lexi Smith brought in the next two runs on a base hit to right field.
Robinson dug in and laced a two-RBI double to the outfield, the first of three consecutive two-baggers for Richmond. The others by Steele and Rusich scored two more runs when the trio of players traded places.
The Lady Raiders’ final run of the game was scored when Lyerly put the ball in play and reached on an error, one of nine miscues by East Mecklenburg, which scored Rusich.
The Lady Raiders (2-5, 1-2 Sandhills Athletic Conference) host Union Pines High School (2-5, 1-1 SAC) Friday at 7 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Statistics and game information provided by Richmond’s Game Changer.
