Columbus – The North Platte Community College Knights Softball team lost Thursday in the semifinals of the Region IX Division II Tournament 10-5 against the Southeast Community College Lady Storm.

The Knights received a first round bye for being the number one seed in the tournament.  Southeast, the number three seed defeated the host and number two seed Central Community College 6-5 in eight innings earlier in the day.

The Lady Storm jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Knights got on the scoreboard. The Knights’ Sara Villalobos and Samantha Foster hit back to back home runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Lady Storm lead to 6-2.

Villalobos hit her second home run of the day and Makenzi DeCrow scored on a single by Allie Vigil to bring the Knights within two at 6-4 in the sixth inning.

Shannon Smith of the Lady Storm hit a two-run home run in the seventh and added two more runs to increase the Lady Storm lead to 10-4.

Jessica Jarvis scored a run in the bottom of the seventh for the Knights’ final run.

Southeast’s Megan Hartman was in the ring and struck out nine and did not allow a hit for the Knights until the home run by Villalobos.

The Knights (15-29) will play Central Community College in an elimination game at 10 am Friday with the winner of that game advancing to play Southeast in the championship game at 12:30 pm.  If Southeast loses that game, the same two teams will play at 3 pm to determine the Region IX Division II champion.

ESPN 1410 radio will broadcast all games that the Knights are involved in.  They can also be heard on www.northplattepost.com.