ROCKINGHAM — Down to its final two outs Monday, the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity softball team walked it off to earn its third straight win.
Playing their first of two games this week against non-conference Montgomery Central High School, the JV Lady Raiders escaped a late rally and earned an 8-7 win in four innings (time limit).
Richmond dotted the scoreboard with four runs in the first inning, a solo run in both the second and fourth frames, and scored two runs in the third inning.
Freshmen pitchers Lyra Newton (2.1 innings) and Autumn Cooper (1.2 innings) split the workload. Newton started and allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits and three strikeouts.
Cooper, who earned the win in relief, surrendered three runs (one earned) on five hits.
“We’ve been swinging the bats really well lately and tonight I think we were a little too confident, which is why we allowed some runs early on,” head coach Lauren Brewer said.
“The girls settled in, and even though we made several errors, we were able to produce runs when it mattered.”
The JV Lady Timberwolves took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, which was answered by Richmond’s first four runs in the home half.
Newton (error) scored the first run on a passed ball. A couple pitches later, freshman Haylee McCaskill doubled home Newton, which also moved freshman Grace Hill (error) to third base.
Cooper dug in during the next at-bat and scored Hill on an RBI groundout to second base, scoring Hill and tying the game.
Giving the JV Lady Raiders their first lead was sophomore Kaylee Connor, who singled to left field to plate McCaskill and make it 4-3.
Montgomery Central scored a run in the top of the second to tie the game, but Newton delivered in the home half to regain the one-run lead. She singled home sophomore Liz Lunceford (triple).
Adding to their lead in the bottom of the third, after stranding the bases loaded in the top half, the JV Lady Raiders scored two more runs.
With two away, Lunceford hit her second triple of the game to score freshman Kaydence Cooke (error). In the next at-bat, an error in the infield allowed freshman Ava Parks to reach safely and score Lunceford to make it 7-4.
Montgomery Central tied the game with its final three runs in the top of the fourth inning. But Richmond would walk it off just three batters into the bottom half.
A one-out walk to Cooper saw her move all the way to third with Connor at the plate. Similar to their first run, the JV Lady Raiders scored the winning run on a passed ball.
The JV Lady Raiders (4-1) are set to close their series with Montgomery Central on the road Thursday. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
Sports editor's note: Statistics and game information provided by Richmond's GameChanger.
