North Platte – The Knights are sending another one of their players to a NCAA Division I school. Edgars Kaufmanis has accepted an offer to play for Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

The Islanders are a Division I school who play in the Southland region. Last season the Islanders went 14-18 and lost in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament.

Kaufmanis had a spectacular year with the Knights averaging 9.2 points per game to go along with 4.1 Rebounds. Kaufmanis is a deep threat as well shooting 41.2% from 3pt range and 46.2% overall.

Other Knights basketball players who have signed this offseason are Jakub Karwowski who will be playing for Utah State and Nahatabaa Nacona who will be playing for Eastern Nazarene University.

Six North Platte Community College softball players have received post-season honors including sophomore Willow Chitty (North Platte) who was named Region IX Division II Offensive Player of the Year as well as being named to the All-Region IX team, the Region IX tournament team and the all Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference team.

Joining Chitty on the All Region 9 team were freshman Hallei Morales (North Platte) and freshman Megan Hernandez-Bellew (Broomfield, Colo.).

Chitty was named to the all-tournament team with sophomore Mikayla Gibson (West Valley, Utah) and sophomore Emily Marsden (Papilion).

All-NCCAC team members included Chitty, Gibson and sophomore Ashlynn Krueger (Littleton, Colo.)

In 45 games this season, Willow Chitty led all Region IX Division II hitters with a.575 batting average with seven homeruns and 48 RBIs. She was also first in at bats (153), runs (43), hits (88), doubles (18), total bases (131), on-base percentage (594) and slugging (.856). Her 88 hits this season were the second best in the nation among players from 131 Division II schools. Her batting average was third best in the nation and her on-base percentage fifth in the nation.

Mikayla Gibson led the region with 20 stolen bases and was third on the team in hitting with a .414 batting average in 45 games, with 12 doubles and 40 runs scored. She was second in the region in at bats (152), hits (63) doubles, runs, and second with 80 total bases.

Hallei Morales batted .393 this season with six home runs and 38 RBIs. She was ranked in the top five in the region in hits (53) home runs (6), RBIS, total bases (76), on-base percentage (.461) and was hit by a pitch nine times to lead all players in the region.

Emily Marsden batted .402 and in 159 plate appearances had 60 hits (third in the conference) eight doubles and three home runs. She batted .441 (second in the region) with 24 RBIs, had an on-base percentage of .503 (second in the region) and slugged .581. She appeared in 28 games as a pitcher, starting 12 with a 6-9 record and a 5.84 ERA in 92.1 innings. She struck out 68 hitters (second most in the region) with nine complete games, also second best in the region.

Megan Hernadez-Bellew batted .380 on the season with 12 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. She was the Region IX, Division II leader in both sacrifice flies (five) and sacrifice hits (16). She hit four doubles, two triples, and had 49 total bases.

Ashlynn Krueger a pitcher/infielder appeared in 28 games as a pitcher, and went 7-12 and led all Region IX, Division players with a 4.41 ERA. She threw 111 innings, and struck out 40 hitters. She was second in the region with seven wins and was in the top four among pitchers in the region in appearances (28), games started (17) complete games (7) and strikeouts. Offensively she batted .304 with 24 hits in 79 at bats.

Nahatabaa “Baa” Nacona signed a letter of intent Friday to continue her basketball career at Eastern Nazarene College, in Quincy, Ma.

Nacona has spent the past two years playing for the North Platte Community College Knights. She is originally from Chinle, Ariz.

“I’ve really enjoyed how small NPCC is and how friendly the teachers are,” Nacona said. “They accept me for who I am. As far as basketball is concerned, I’ve enjoyed competing at a higher level and having people remind me of who I am.”

She’s looking forward to the sights, sounds and experiences that will come with living in Quincy.

“I came from a small community to another small community, and now I’m going to a big city,” Nacona said. “I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Nacona averaged 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game during the 2018-19 basketball season. Her work earned her spots on the Region IX All-Region Team as well as the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference All-Conference Team.

Nacona was a key factor in helping the Knights top the 20-win mark for the third time in four years. She also joined the team on its journey to nationals and in claiming a NCCAC championship with a perfect 6-0 mark.

“Baa deserves this opportunity,” said NPCC women’s head basketball coach Jeff Thurman. “She trusted us enough to come back after her freshman year and not only, did she help lead our team to unprecedented heights for us, but she also provided leadership to our freshmen athletes. ENC is getting a great basketball player, and is getting an even better person.”

Nacona graduated Friday with an Associate of Science degree from NPCC. She plans to major in social work at Eastern Nazarene. Her goal is to return to the Navajo nation to help the people of Chinle and surrounding areas.

Mid-Plains Community College will send seven members of its rodeo team to the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. June 9-15.

The CNFR qualifiers are:

Men’s team:

§ Austin Madison, Whiting, Iowa

§ Clay Bauer, Arcadia

§ JD Draper, Oakley, Kan.

§ Koby Jacobson, Haiku, Hawaii

§ Marshall Still, Oconto

§ Wyatt Williams, Ord

§ Chance Williams, Ord (will serve as an alternate)

Women’s team:

§ Danielle Wray, Ord

The team ended its season in Dickinson, N.D. over the weekend. It took first place overall in the men’s team standings and claimed two individual wins by Jacobson, bull riding, and Madison, steer wrestling. Additionally, Madison and Draper tied for first in the steer wrestling in the regional standings.

“That’s pretty awesome to have two regional saddles come back to the college for one event,” said Garrett Nokes, MPCC Rodeo Team timed event coach. “JD stumbled a bit this weekend, but had a phenomenal fall and not a bad spring. That was enough to put him over the edge. Austin had a pretty rough fall, but all spring had gotten considerably better. He ropes well and steer wrestles well, but breaking barriers cost him. These last couple of weeks, he’s really turned it up a notch and did great.”

Danielle Wray, of Ord, came in fifth in the breakaway roping at Dickinson – helping the MPCC women’s team to finish fifth as well. Wray is currently the number one header in the Great Plains Region heading into nationals and will be the only woman representing Mid-Plains at the CNFR.

“Danielle is just a freshman, but she’s doing a great job,” said Nokes. “She stumbled a couple of times this spring, and it could have cost her the regional championship, so it’s great to see her go to nationals. She and her partner rope well enough that they could be contenders for the national title.”

Marshall Still, of Oconto, placed second in the steer wrestling at Dickinson. Nokes has been impressed with the progress Still has made this year.

“Marshall had a really tough fall and worked on a lot of things over the winter,” Nokes said. “No one has worked any harder than he has. To have three steer wrestlers from the same school make it to nationals – a person has to be proud of that, and I’m real proud of all of them. Any of them could be in contention for a national championship. They are good enough to do that. It wouldn’t surprise me if all three are top 10 finishers.”

Bauer and Draper joined forces to place second in the team roping at Dickinson. In addition to place third in the tie-down roping at Dickinson, Bauer is also sitting third in tie-down roping for the region.

“Clay had some horsepower problems early on,” said Nokes. “But, he borrowed a horse this spring and started roping smarter than he ever has. That new horse was the key factor in him getting the qualification for nationals.”

Jacobson’s bull riding win at Dickinson left him third in the region. Dustin Elliott, MPCC Rodeo Team rough stock coach, said the circumstances surrounding the competition in North Dakota made the win even more special.

“Koby was tied for third coming into the weekend,” Elliott said. “The kid that he tied with and the other that could have caught him both bucked off before him. So, all Koby had to do was ride his bull, and he had the college finals made. As a competitor, sometimes that’s the hardest situation to be in because of the pressure. I couldn’t be more proud of him based on what was on the line.”

Overall, MPCC will head to the CNFR second in the region in the men’s team standings and third in the women’s team standings.

“Six of the seven qualifiers will be coming back next year,” Nokes said. “Winning second as a team – we’ve got nowhere to go but up.”

It’s the third year in a row that MPCC has qualified for nationals and the second year in a row that it has finished second in the region with its men’s team.

“I thought we competed well all year on both ends of the arena,” Elliott said. “We didn’t quite pull it all together until Dickinson, but there we had a 790-point rodeo as a team, which was one of the higher points that any team got all year. Our guys really stepped up, and we were firing on all cylinders. We’re still riding that momentum. Who knows what will happen in Casper.”

A man who spent nine years at McCook Community College as an assistant coach with the men’s basketball team, will take over the head coaching post for the MCC women’s basketball program.

Brandon Pritchett has been named MCC’s Women’s Basketball Coach. He had been serving the college as the interim coach since late February after the resignation of former coach Kellen Fernetti. Pritchett took over a team that topped the 20-win mark for the third time in four years.

“We are extremely excited for Coach Pritchett to take over the women’s basketball program here at McCook,” said MCC Athletic Director Jon Olsen. “Brandon has done an excellent job in his nine years at the college in every role he has had, he is a great worker and someone that I can count on to get things done and is always there to help for the betterment of the college and our student athletes.”

This season, the Lady Indians finished 21-11 and claimed a Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference championship with a perfect 6-0 mark. The team finished in third place in the South Sub-Region and hosted a first round Region tournament game for the first time since going to the current play-in game format. The season ended with a one-point loss to Eastern Wyoming in the second round of the Region IX Tournament.

Since arriving at MCC in August of 2010, Pritchett began his assistant coaching duties with the men’s program under Brandon Lenhart which has included a wide range of responsibilities including recruiting and summer camp responsibilities.

Pritchett served two years as Resident Life Assistant, Intramural Director, and basketball camp instructor. In March of 2012, he was named Area Assistant Director of Advising where his duties have included advising for MCC’s 450 on-campus, commuter and on line students as well as student recruitment for the 18 counties in the Mid-Plains Community College District.

In December of 2012 he launched the first McCook Community College Athletic website.

“Brandon has been a huge part of our athletic program during his time here, and now I am excited for him to take on his new role,” Olsen said.

Prior to coming to MCC he spent six seasons at Flagstaff High School. He graduated Cum Laude at Northern Arizona University in 2005 and received his master’s degree in Sports Science and Management at the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Ala., in 2013.

COLUMBUS – The North Platte Community College softball team put the tying run at third base Sunday but fell 4-3 to Central Community College as the season ends in the first round of the Region IX Division II tournament. Sunday was the third game of a best-of-three, first-round series. CCC won the first game Saturday 6-5 in eight innings. North Platte came back to win the second game Saturday 10-0 to set up Game 3 Sunday.

“We fought all the way to the end and never gave up,” said North Platte Coach Janelle Higgins. “We knew it was going to be a battle all the way to the end and it was.”

North Platte came out Sunday with a first-inning lead. After the game started on a Raider error, Emily Marsden (Papillion) singled and both runners moved up on a Willow Chitty (North Platte) sacrifice bunt and the Knights took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hallei Morales (North Platte).

Central tied the game in the bottom of the first and took a 2-1 lead with a run in the third, and added runs in the fifth and sixth innings to lead 4-1.

“We missed opportunities to score almost every inning and that was the difference in the game,” Higgins said.

In the North Platte seventh, Morales led off with a walk, but after a strikeout and a fielder’s choice the Knights got down to their last strike twice but didn’t fold. Megan Hernandez-Bellew (Broomfield, Colo.) singled to center. Maddie Liddell (Glenwood, Iowa) got down 0-2 but worked a walk to load the bases for Kayleigh Bucio (Rialto, Calif.) who singled on an 0-2 pitch to right field to drive home two runs and close the gap to 4-3, but the rally ended with runners on first and third.

Marsden pitched six innings and absorbed the loss, she allowed eight hits, and struck out four.

North Platte had seven hits in the game with two from Hernandez-Bellew and five singles.

With the win Central CC improves to 13-22 and advances to the Region IX Division II championship series at Beatrice against Southeast Community College – a best-of-three-game series.

North Platte finishes the season at 16-29.

“It’s always hard to lose but it’s harder when you know the season is over,” Higgins said. “This team left everything on the field today and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

GAME 1 (Saturday) – Central CC, 6, North Platte CC 5 (8 innings): The two teams traded leads five times before the Raiders scored the game winner in the bottom of the eighth inning.

North Platte took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on Emily Marsden’s two-run double. Central scored two in the third and one in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.

The Knights responded with a run in the sixth on a single by Alea Binkly (Council Bluffs, Iowa) and a double by Ashylnn Krueger (Littleton, Colo.). With one out in the seventh, Mikayla Gibson (West Valley, Utah) and Marsden singled, then two outs Hallei Morales doubled to center to put North Platte in the lead 5-4.

Central scored a run in the seventh to tie and one in the eighth for the win.

Krueger pitched the first 6.1 innings, allowed five runs and six hits, one walk and she struck out one.

GAME 2 (Saturday) – North Platte CC 10, Central CC 0: The Knights rebounded from the walk-off loss by exploding for four runs in the first inning, two in the second, and finished out the game with three in the fourth and one in the fifth to polish off the Raiders in five innings.

Willow Chitty powered a two-run homer in the first and went four-for-four at the plate to drive in half of North Platte’s 10 runs.

Emily Marsden was the winning pitcher going four hitless, scoreless innings, striking out six. Hailey Wilkins (Tyler, Texas) recorded the last three outs to earn the save.

Hallei Morales went three-for-four and Kayleigh Bucio went two-for-two as North Platte outhit Central CC 11-1.