The North Platte Community College softball team will be hosting the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II softball tournament April 24 – 25 at the Wayne Dowhower Memorial Softball Complex.
There are three teams in Region IX Division II. North Platte is the number one seed for the tournament with a 7 – 1 record in the region. Central Community College – Columbus is the number two seed with a record of 5 – 3. Southeast Community College – Beatrice is the third seed with a 0 – 8 record.
The tournament gets underway on Friday, April 24 with Central facing Southeast at 2 p.m. The winner of that game will face North Platte at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that game advances to the championship game held on Saturday April 25 at 2:30 p.m. They will play the winner of the elimination game which will be at noon on Saturday. If the undefeated team loses in the championship game, they will play another game at 5 p.m. to determine the champion.
The winner of the Region IX championship will face the winner of Region 11 to advance to the NJCAA national tournament in Clinton, Miss.
The North Platte Community College Knights come into the tournament with a 17 – 27 overall record. At the plate the Knights are led by Sara Villalobos with a .430 batting average, 58 hits, 35 runs scored and nine doubles. Villalobos also has seven home runs and a .652 slugging percentage.
Brittney Odum leads the team in home runs with 10, slugging percentage of .691 and runs batted in with 41. Odum is batting .412 and has eight doubles.
Sara Runia and Shannon Lieber have eight and seven home runs respectively. The Knights are 11th in the NJCAA Division II in home runs with 40.
In the ring, the Knights are led by Lieber and Baileigh Oleson. Lieber is 9 – 11on the season with a 3.94 earned run average. She has struck out 64 hitters and allowed 31 walks. Oleson is 6 – 10 with a 3.38 earned run average. Oleson has struck out 58 and walked 44.
The Central Community College Lady Raiders are 14-27 on the season and are led offensively by Shelbi Dittmer with a .376 batting average and five home runs. Ditmer has 24 runs batted in and nine runs scored.
Logan Zeleny is hitting .364 and has four home runs, 14 runs scored and is tied for the team lead with 25 runs batted in with Janey Pasold. Morgan Uldrich is batting .359 with three home runs. Uldrich also has 13 doubles and 19 runs scored.
Jayd Roberts leads the Lady Raider pitching staff with a 4 – 4 record and a 3.96 earned run average. Roberts has struck out 34 and has allowed only five home runs on the season.
Morgan Uldrich leads the team in strikeouts by fanning 66 opposing hitters. Uldrich has a 5-6 record with a 4.16 earned run average.
Shelbi Dittmer has a 3 – 9 record with a 5.02 earned run average. Dittmer has struck out 37 and has allowed six home runs
Southeast Community College Lady Storm is 14 – 33 on the season. Megan Hartman leads the Lady Storm with a .391 batting average, five home runs, 17 doubles and a .603 slugging percentage.
Melissa Foley is batting .312 with 14 doubles and one home run. Foley has 17 runs batted in and 33 runs scored.
Kristin Thomas shares the team lead in home runs with Hartman with five. Alexis Graewe has 36 runs batted in and has hit four home runs.
In the ring, Hartman has an 8 – 12 record with a 6.26 earned run average. Hartman has struck out 170 hitters, which is seventh in the nation.
The North Platte games can be heard on ESPN 1410 radio or at www.northplattepost.com.
All games of the tournament will be live streamed by www.coachesaid.com.