With the school year coming to an end, the Daily Journal will now take a look at the top sports stories — which will be published in reverse order — from the 2018-19 school year at Richmond Senior High School.
The first installment, which will be the honorable mention story, is scheduled to run in Wednesday’s paper (June 5) and then the top-10 countdown will officially begin with the No. 10 story available in Thursday’s edition (June 6).
Before the top stories are revealed, however, the Daily Journal would like to take a quick look at a handful of the stories/moments that did not make the final list. They are listed in alphabetical order:
Baseball survives 1st-round showdown
An intense battle between the Richmond baseball team and R.J. Reynolds in the first round of the state playoffs on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, ended in walk-off fashion when Brett Young hit a 12th-inning sacrifice fly to secure the 3-2 win.
The matchup lasted nearly four hours and featured a couple of big defensive moments late in the game that kept the teams on the field: like the diving bare-handed catch Garet Weigman made in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Young, who hit an RBI single in the third, and Weigman were two of the team’s 12 seniors who played in the final home games of their careers that night. Nearly all of them helped the Raiders escape the visiting Demons.
“They did that (kind of thing) all year. They never quit,” Richmond head coach Ricky Young said of the team’s effort in the first round. “They worked hard at practice and in the weight room every day. And they never quit on the field.”
Football receives NFL’s Pro Bowl Grant
The Richmond football program got a “huge shot in the arm” on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, when it was presented with a $10,000 check courtesy of former Raider Melvin Ingram and the NFL Foundation’s Pro Bowl Champions Grant.
Ingram, a defensive end for the Los Angeles Chargers who was a member of the AFC team that won the 2019 Pro Bowl, decided to give his winning portion of the grant to the program that played a part in his development.
Richmond head coach Bryan Till says one of the big things the team wants to do with the donation money is upgrade its video experience during games, as he’s looking into purchasing TVs and larger monitors for the sideline.
“It’s huge that Melvin is giving back, because it shows he still cares,” Till said. “I tell our kids all the time that people still care about what they’re doing, but when something so public (like this) happens, they really get a chance to see it and feel it. It’s not just coach speak. … Being a Raider is something that’s going to go with them for a long time.”
Girls 200 freestyle relay places 2nd at SAC meet
The Richmond girls swim team’s 200-yard freestyle relay quartet grabbed a runner-up finish — for the second year in a row — at the Sandhills Athletic Conference Championship meet on Saturday, January 19, 2019.
Natalie Davis, Kelsey Murray, Haleigh Poston and Greyson Way all worked together to post a time of 2:13.29, which was the Lady Raiders’ best finish on the day as the performance brought in 34 of the the team’s 105 points.
It was a celebratory effort seeing that the Richmond swims programs were only in their second seasons.
Lucero, Hooks deliver in clutch moments
Avy Lucero helped the Richmond girls soccer team set the tone for what was its best run through conference in more than a decade when she scored a game winner with no time left on the clock at Purnell Swett on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.
It was her second try at the direct kick — officials called for a re-kick after they realized the clock never stopped following a Rams foul — and she delivered with a ball that bounced off the top post before lifting the Lady Raiders a 3-2 victory.
“It was a really drastic way to end the game, but I think it ended right,” Richmond head coach Chris Larsen said.
In the team’s home opener against Jack Britt a week later, Tuesday, March 12, 2019, Morgan Hooks ended a well-contested PK shootout with a shot that ripped right past the opposing goalie and gave Richmond the 5-4 win.
Softball hits 5 HRs on back-to-back nights
The Richmond softball team came close to tying/breaking a program record within the first two weeks of the season.
Kayla Hawkins, Taylor Parrish, Paige Ransom, Allyiah Swiney and Greyson Way each went yard to help the Lady Raiders to a 13-2 rout of Uwharrie Charter Academy on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. The following night, Way sent two over the fence while Hawkins, Parrish and Ransom each hit one a piece to lead them to an 11-o shutout win over Pinecrest.
Both efforts fell one shy of the single-game record (6) that was set in the third round of the 2018 state playoffs.
“We’re coming around,” head coach Wendy Wallace said after the mercy-rule win over Uwharrie Charter. “We look a lot more comfortable at the plate and that just comes with getting more swings in.”
The Richmond football program poses behind varsity head coach Bryan Till and Callie Ingram, middle, after receiving the NFL Foundation’s Pro Bowl Champions Grant on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.
Richmond’s Taylor Parrish (3) is welcomed home by her teammates after hitting a home run in an 11-0 win over Pinecrest on Thursday, March 14, 2019.