The North Platte Community College Knights softball team will play host to National Junior College Athletic Region IX Division II foes Central Community College and Southeast Community College at Wayne Dowhower Memorial Softball Complex this weekend.
The Knights, 13 – 19 overall and 4 – 0 in the region are led in hitting by Sara Villalobos with a .440 batting average. Villalobos also has four home runs, six doubles, 23 runs batted in, 11 walks, a .504 on base percentage and a .620 slugging percentage.
The Knights are 12th in the nation in Division II in home runs with a total of 27 home runs led by Sara Runia and Brittney Odum with seven each. Shannon Lieber has five home runs and Mehana Chang has three.
Odum leads the Knights in runs batted in with 27. Chang has 14 stolen bases to lead the team.
In the ring, Lieber has a 5.38 earned run average with 56 strikeouts. Baileigh Oleson has a 5.38 earned run average with 40 strike outs.
On Friday, April 10, the Knights will host the Central Community College Lady Raiders in a double header.
The Lady Raiders are 13 – 16 on the season and 4 – 2 in Region IX Division II play. They are led offensively by Logan Zeleny. Zeleny is hitting .405 with one double and four home runs. She also has 11 runs and 22 runs batted in. Shelbi Dittmer leads the Lady Raiders in home runs with five and runs batted in with 23.
In the ring, the Lady Raiders rely on four pitchers for a team earned run average of 4.38. Jayd Roberts has a 3.79 earned run average with 30 strikeouts in 10 appearances. Morgan Uldrich is 4 – 4 with a 4.09 earned run average in 11 appearances and has 56 strikeouts. Brooke Behnk has a 3.94 earned run average in 11 appearances. Behnk has struck out 32. The fourth pitcher is Dittmer, who leads the team in appearances with 12. Dittmer has struck out 28 and has an earned run average of 5.66.
The games Friday against Central will be at 3 p.m. and 5p.m. CDT
On Saturday, the Southeast Community College Lady Storm come to town for a doubleheader. The Lady Storm are 13 – 27 on the season and 0 – 6 in region play.
They are led by Megan Hartman offensively. Hartman has a .389 batting average, five home runs, 26 runs batted in, 16 doubles and a .626 slugging percentage. Three other Lady Storm players have four home runs on the season. They are Alexis Grawe, Kristin Thomas and Ally Vrbas.
Pitching for the Lady Storm is led by Hartman. Who has a 7 – 9 record with a 5.96 earned run average. Hartman has struck out 131 hitters in 22 appearances.
Former North Platte High School Lady Bulldog Nicole Zelinski is another pitcher for the Lady Storm. Zelinski has a 9.00 earned run average with 26 strike outs.
The games Friday against Central will be at 3 p.m. and 5p.m. The games Saturday against Southeast will be at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. All times are CDT.
All four games will determine the seedings for the upcoming region tournament held in North Platte on April 24 – 26. The number one seed will receive a first round bye.
All games can be heard on ESPN Radio 1410 or www.northplattepost.com. They will also be live streamed at www.coachesaid.com.