The North Platte Community College Knights Softball team will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa May 1 – 2 to play the Kirkwood Community College Lady Eagles for the National Junior College Athletic Association District G championship.

The Knights, (19 – 27) won the Region IX title with a win over Central Community College 5 – 4 on Saturday to advance to the district championship.

The Knights are led in hitting by Sara Villalobos with a batting average of .433 and runs scored with 37.  Villalobos has seven home runs, 32 runs batted in, nine doubles and a slugging percentage of .645.

Brittney Odum, along with Sara Runia lead the Knights in home runs with 10.  Odum is batting .400 with eight doubles, 41 runs batted in, 33 runs and a slugging percentage of .671.  Runia is batting .388 with eight doubles, 32 runs batted in, 25 runs scored and a slugging percentage of .672.

In the ring, Baileigh Oleson is 8 – 11 on the season with a 3.16 earned run average.  Oleson has struck out 70 batters which is a 4.03 strikeouts per game ratio.  Shannon Lieber is 9 – 11 and a 3.94 earned run average. Lieber has struck out 64, which is a 3.71 strikeouts per game.

The Knights are 12^th in the nation in home runs in NJCAA Division II with 43.

Kirkwood is rated eighth in the country in the latest NJCAA Division II poll with a record of 43 – 8.  The Lady Eagles defeated Southwestern Community College 17 – 3 to win the Region XI title.

The Lady Eagles have a powerful offense leading the nation as a team in runs scored with 523, doubles with 130, home runs with 109, runs batted in with 486 and stolen bases with 165. They are fourth in the nation in team batting average at.414.

Offensively they are led by Chasney Jenkins who is hitting .550 on the season and has 66 stolen bases.  Jenkins has nine home runs, 20 doubles, 39 runs batted in, 85 runs scored and a .893 slugging percentage.

Lexie Biehl leads the Lady Eagles with 25 home runs.  Biehl is hitting .457 with 13 doubles, 80 runs batted in, 65 runs scored and a slugging percentage of 1.053.

Other Lady Eagles to watch are Brooke Prior, who has 18 home runs, a .486 batting average, 16 doubles and a .979 slugging percentage. Alicia Crivaro has 12 home runs, a .380 batting average, 11 doubles and a .737 slugging percentage.

In the ring, the Lady Eagles have a team earned run average of 2.02. Nicolette Simpson is 18 – 5 with a 1.80 earned run average.  Simpson has struck out 123 batters and has given up only five home runs.  Prior is 13 – 0 with a 1.89 earned run average. She has struck out 101 batters and allowed seven home runs.

It is a best of three series.  Game times are at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, May 1.  If a third game is necessary, it will be played at noon on Saturday, May 2.

ESPN 1410 radio will be broadcasting the games.  They can also be heard on www.northplattepost.com.  There will be no video live streaming for these games.

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.

The North Platte Community College Knights softball team will travel to Hastings to play the Hastings College Junior Varsity Lady Broncos onWednesday, April 15.

The Knights are 16 – 20 on the season.  They are hitting .336 as a team with 34 home runs, which is 11^th in the nation amongst National Junior College Athletic Association Division II schools.

The Knights are led offensively by Sara Villalobos, with a .442 batting average.  Villalobos also had hit six home runs, and batted in 29 runs. Villalobos leads the team in hits with 50, runs scored with 30 and an on base percentage of .504.

Sara Runia leads the Knights with eight home runs, eight doubles and a .729 slugging percentage.  Runia is hitting .442, has scored 21 runs, has 46 hits and has 26 runs batted in.

Brittney Odum leads the team in runs batted in with 31.  Odum is hitting .404, has seven home runs and seven doubles.

In the ring, the Knights are led by Baileigh Oleson with a 3.19 earned run average.  Oleson is 6 – 8 on the year, has struck out 53 and has one save on the season.  Shannon Lieber is 8 – 9 on the season with an earned run average of 3.57 and has 61 strike outs.

There are no available statistics for the Lady Broncos.  Former North Platte High School Lady Bulldog Ashton Hernandez is a pitcher for the Lady Broncos.

Hernandez in the prior meeting against the Knights pitched six innings, allowed nine runs, five earned runs and struck out two.

Game times are at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The North Platte Community College Knights softball team clinched the top seed in the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II tournament, by sweeping the Southeast Community College Lady Storm in a double header 13 – 1 and 12 – 4.

The Knights improve to 16 – 20 and 7 – 1 in region play.  By clinching the top seed, they will receive a first round bye.

In the first game the Knights jumped out early by scoring five runs in the first inning.  The first run was caused by a bases loaded walk to Shannon Lieber scoring Jessica Jarvis.  Shelby Clark and Baileigh Oleson each had runs batted in during the first inning.  Brittney Odum had two runs batted in during the inning on a double.

The Knights scored six runs in the third inning, highlighted by Odum and Caroline Motis, both of whom doubled, as well as a three-run home run by Jazmine Chang to make the score 11 – 0.

Sara Villalobos hit a two-run home run scoring Motis to make the score 13 – 0.

The Lady Storm scored their only run in the fifth when Destiny Worthey singled and scored on a single by Alexis Graewe.

Lieber pitched the five inning complete game, allowing only one run on five hits.

In game two, the Knights scored first on a solo home run by Lieber in the second inning.

The Lady Storm stormed back with their only four runs of the game in the top half of the third to take a 4 – 1 lead.  They opened the inning with Graewe reaching on an error.  Megan Hartman and Breanna Johnson had back to back ground rule doubles.  Johnson scored on a two-run home run by Kristin Thomas.

The Knights tied the score in the fourth on a two-run home run by Oleson, scoring Shelby Clark.  The Knights took the lead in the fifth inning with five runs including Villalobos’ second home run of the day which scored Jarvis.

In the sixth, Sara Runia hit a two-run home run to increase the lead to 11- 4.  The final run of the game came when Oleson singled to score Clark to end the game.

Oleson pitched the complete game allowing four runs on five hits.  She struck out nine Lady Storm hitters.

The Knights are in action next on Wednesday, April 15, when they travel to play the Hastings College Junior Varsity Lady Broncos in a double header.  Game times are at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. CDT.

The North Platte Community College Knights softball team split a double header against the Central Community College Lady Raiders, losing the first game 12 – 3 and winning the night cap 8 – 6 in a key National Junior College Region IX Division II match up

In the first game the Lady Raiders scored six runs in the first inning highlighted by a double by Janey Pasold.  The Lady Raider added two runs in the second on a home run by Morgan Uldrich and a single by Blake Kappington which scored Logan Zeleny.

The Knights scored in their half of the second when Brittney Odum doubled and was batted in by Jessica Jarvis.

The Lady Raiders came back with three runs in the bottom of the third on home runs by Kira Ramirez and  Jayd Roberts to make the score 11 – 1. The Knights scored two runs in the fourth on a single by Sara Villalobos which scored Odum and Carol Motis.

The Lady Raiders added a run in the top of the fifth when Ramirez singled and then scored on an error.

In game two, the Knights jumped out to an early lead.  Mehana Chang homered in the first to give the Kinights a 1 – 0 lead. Sara Runia scored on a fieler’s choice by Tara Crouch to take a 2 – 0 lead.

The Knights made it 6 – 0 in the second on runs by Motis, Jarvis, Chang and Runia.

The Lady Raiders started to come back in the fourth by scoring two runs by Dittmer and Alissa Edwards to pull within four runs.

The Knights added some insurance runs with runs by Jarvis and Crouch.

The Knights improve to 14-20 on the season and 5 – 1 in region play.  The Lady Raiders are 14 – 17 on the season and 5 – 3 in region play.

The Knights are back in action tomorrow when they face Southeast Community College.  The game times are at 2 pm and 4 pm.

The games may be heard on ESPN Radio 1410 or on www.northplattepost.com.   They will also be live streamed on www.coachesaid.com.

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 12^th 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.

The North Platte Community College Softball Team will be having a “Pink Out” night when they play McCook Community College on April 17 at the Wayne Dowhower Memorial Softball Complex at 5 p.m and 7 p.m. CDT.

The “pink out” night will benefit research on breast cancer.

Shirts are available to purchase for $20.00 for sizes youth small to adult extra-large.  For larger sizes add $2.00 for XXL and $3.00 for XXXL.   All proceeds will go to the Callahan Cancer Center.

The shirts must be ordered before April 10.

They can be ordered by contacting Knights Head Coach Janelle Higgins, Knights softball players or downloading the form at www.npccknights.com.