North Platte – Two sophomores from the Region IX Division II champion North Platte Community College Knights softball team, Shelby Belloni and Samantha Gill and have signed letters of intent to play at the next level for the 2017-18 season.

Shelby Belloni, who is from Wheat Ridge, Colo., has signed a letter of intent to play for the Friends University Falcons in Wichita, Kans. Friends is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics college that participates in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. They finished this past season with a 33-13 record and 16-6 in the KCAC. The Falcons finished in third place in the regular season KCAC standings.

Belloni, an outfielder, started in 100 games while at NPCC, batted .462 during her career with 20 doubles, four home runs, and 46 stolen bases in 48 attempts. Belloni also had an .874 fielding percentage with 161 total chances and 16 defensive assists.

Knights Head Coach Janelle Higgins said, “Our outfielders will have some big shoes to fill as Shelby heads on to Friends University. Shelby’s willingness to play wherever she was needed will be an adjustment, playing all over the outfield and even a few games on the infield was a huge advantage for us this year. In her two years here, she started almost every game and her bat and fielding will be missed. She has the determination and drive to be very successful at Friends.”

Samantha Gill, from LaSalle, Colo, signed a letter of intent to play for the Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets in Spearfish, S. D.

The Yellow Jackets are a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division Two college, and are members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They finished the 2017 season with a 7-37 record overall and 5-31 in the conference.

Gill, primarily played catcher for the Knights during her two years and a few games at first and second bases. Gill had a .454 batting average in her two years with the Knights, a .621 slugging percentage with 18 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs, and eight stolen bases in nine attempts.

Defensively, Gill had a career fielding percentage of .962, which is the best fielding percentage in the history of the Knights softball program. She had 343 total chances, 286 put outs, and 13 errors, which is the fewest in history of the school over two years.

“It will be an adjustment not to have Sami in our line up next year as she has been a consistent player for two years, her knowledge and game time experience will help her be an asset right away at BHSU.” Higgins said, “Her work ethic and commitment to the game and our program she has shown the last two years are leaving big shoes to fill by incoming freshman.”

Higgins said, “Both young ladies will be missed on and off the field as they gave so much to our community and our program as a whole.”