SHALLOTTE — The Richmond softball team hadn’t forgot about its extra-inning loss to West Brunswick in last year’s tournament title game and wasted no time showing everyone else just how bad it wanted to win this time around.
Suiting up as the away team Wednesday night, the Lady Raiders scored all nine of their runs in the first two innings and then survived the home team’s comeback effort to claim the 2019 Beach Diamond Invitational championship with a 9-8 win.
It was the first time in its last three tries that Richmond (21-2) was able to defeat West Brunswick (15-6) and claim the trophy. The Trojans came out on top — by one run each time — when the two teams met in the 2018 and 2016 finales.
A Taylor Parrish RBI single on the game’s fourth at-bat is what got the champs going at the top of the first, as three straight RBI from the No. 8, No. 9 and No. 1 spots in the Richmond lineup quickly put West Brunswick in an early hole.
Freshman outfielder Allyiah Swiney cranked out a two-run single to get Parrish, a senior who plays at first base, and another runner across home plate. Next up was sophomore third base Payton Chappell, who made sure she kept the momentum going with an RBI single that gave the Lady Raiders a 5-0 lead. And then, in her second plate appearance of the inning, senior shortstop Savannah Lampley put them ahead by seven runs with a two-run double into left center field.
West Brunswick answered with a couple of runs of its own in the bottom half of the first to cut into its deficit, but senior ace Greyson Way’s solo shot and an RBI double from freshman outfielder Kenleigh Frye led to Richmond leading 9-2 after two.
The third inning is when the game began to shift, as the Lady Raiders weren’t able to take advantage of getting runners on base and the Trojans started to gradually chip away at what had blossomed into a big lead for the visitors.
Scoring a run in the bottom of the third and plating two more in the fourth — all while keeping Richmond off the scoreboard — got West Brunswick within striking distance as the game approached the fifth inning.
And that’s when things got intense, as the Trojans got out of the top half without allowing any more runs and then scored three runs on a 2-RBI hit and a sacrifice fly in the bottom half pull themselves within one.
Way stood firm in the circle and got Richmond out of the fifth-inning jam, however, and was able to do the same in the sixth and the seventh to escape with the win. She ended the night with nine allowed hits, five strikeouts and five walks.
The Lady Raiders, who have now won 10 in a row, will enjoy the rest of Spring Break before hosting Seventy-First in the first round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference Tournament next week.
The Richmond softball team claimed the 2019 Beach Diamond Invitational championship with a 9-8 win over host West Brunswick on Wednesday. All nine of the Lady Raiders’ runs were scored in the first two innings.