The North Platte Community College Knights softball team landed five players on the All-Region IX team and on the All-tournament team.
Brittney Odum, Sara Runia, Sara Villalobos, Shannon Lieber and Bailey Oleson were named to the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II all-region team
Runia, Villalobos, Lieber, Oleson and Jessica Jarvis were named to the Region IX Division II all-tournament team.
The Knights won the Region IX championship by defeating Central Community College 5 – 4 in the finals on Saturday.
Villalobos was also named Region IX Freshman of the year. She leads the Knights in hitting with a .433 average, 61 hits, nine doubles and 37 runs scored. Villalobos also has seven home runs on the season and 32 runs batted in. In the tournament Villalobos batted .500 with one run scored in the two games.
Odum is hitting .400 on the season, has eight doubles and a .671 slugging percentage. She leads the team in runs batted in with 41 and tied with Runia with 10 home runs.
Runia, besides leading the Knights in home runs with Odum leads the team in slugging percentage with .672. Runia is hitting .388 with 25 runs scored and 32 runs batted in. In the tournament Runia batted .400 and hit two home runs.
Lieber, is batting .274 on the season with eight doubles and seven home runs for a slugging percentage of .489. In the ring, Lieber was 9 – 11 on the season with a 3.94 earned run average. Lieber struck out 64 hitters.
Oleson, is batting .414 in 35 plate appearances with one home run. In the ring, Oleson is 8 – 11 with a 3.16 earned run average. She has struck out 70 batters. In the tournament, Oleson pitched both games and allowed four runs on seven hits. She struck out 12 hitters in the two games.
Jarvis, in the tournament batted .285 with one double. The double drove in the winning run in the championship game against Central. On the season Jarvis is hitting .308 with five doubles and 10 stolen bases.
Other members of the All – Region team are Janey Pasold, Shelbi Dittmer, Morgan Uldrich, all from Central Community College; Alexis Graewe, Megan Hartman and Kristin Thomas from Southeast Community College.
Pasold was named player of the year for Region IX.
Pasold and Uldrich, along with teammates Jacey Bretschneider and Logan Zeleney were selected to the All – Tournament team. Graewe and Hartman were the representatives from Southeast on the team.
Knights Head Coach Janelle Higgins was named Region IX Division II Coach of the year.
Southeast Community College won the Sheila Worley Sportsmanship award.
The Knights will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to face Kirkwood Community College in the District G playoff on May 1 – 2 to determine who will go to the NJCAA Division II National tournament in Cinton, Miss.