Richmond pitchers shut out Hoke County - Richmond County Daily Journal

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Senior pitcher Kearston Bruce throws a pitch early in the game Wednesday against Hoke County.

Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

Junior Maylyn Wallace hits a foul ball Wednesday against Hoke County.

Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal

ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School varsity softball team made quick work of Hoke County Wednesday night, shutting out the Lady Bucks 8-0.

Despite the shutout, the Richmond (3-1) pitchers threw a lot of balls to contact with mostly fly outs and ground outs comprising the Lady Bucks’ (0-3) at-bats. But head coach Mike Way said that was by design.

“We’re looking to pitch ahead in the count, short at bat,” Way said. “So we want them to put it in play. We’re pitching for weak contact. I’m not looking for long counts. We get ourselves in a bind when we get behind in the count. If you’re 2-0 or 3-1, they have a pretty good idea of what you’re throwing and that puts us in a bad spot. So we need to throw strikes early, and I thought we did a very good job of that tonight.”

Confident in the fielding behind them in the infield and outfield, while pitching to contact, senior pitchers Kearston Bruce and Paige Ransom combined for seven fly outs and nine groundouts.

“That’s most of us, that’s what we work towards,” Ransom said. “It’s always good to get strikeouts, but that’s not what my pitching style is.”

The Raiders changed pitchers in the top of the fourth inning after giving up hits in the first couple at-bats. After pitching for three innings, Bruce made way for Ransom, who faced two bases loaded situations with just one out.

The first out came on a fielder’s choice throw out to home plate to get the runner on third base, but that left the bases loaded again. Ransom finally got the Lady Raiders out of the jam with her first strikeout of the game.

“That was a hard situation for any pitcher to go through,” Ransom said. “I just tried to pitch it to contact, hoping that my infield and outfield could get it for me.”

Ransom finished out the final four innings giving up no hits and striking out three batters. Bruce went three up, three down in each of the first three innings, while Ransom went three up, three down in the fifth and sixth innings.

At bat, senior Payton Chappell hit two triples and finished with four RBIs to lead the Lady Raiders.

“They had decent pitching so we just sit back and wait on it,” Chappell said. “The second pitcher was throwing a lot of curve balls and she was a lefty, so we just had to stay inside and drive it.”

Junior Kenleigh Frye, Bruce and sophomores Quston Leviner and Macy Steen each hit a double. Frye also finished with two RBIs.

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Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2675 ext. 2751 or [email protected] Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.

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