The North Platte Lady Bulldogs had a send-off at North Platte High School Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Dawgs left Tuesday for the state softball tournament in Hastings and had good supports from parents and fans.
After getting cheers from the crowd coach BJ Songster led her team on to the bus and began the trek to Hastings. The fans there for the send-off loaded up their cars and followed the bus to I-80 honking their horns all the way.
The Lady Dawgs drove past marquees displayed at local businesses that also wished them luck.
No. 7 North Platte plays at 9:00 am Wednesday morning against No. 2 Omaha Skutt Catholic. The Dawgs and Skyhawks met twice early in the season and each team came away with one victory. You can hear North Platte at the state tournament on ESPN Radio 1410 and online at www.northplattepost.com with Robert Lovell on the call.
If North Platte wins in the first round they won’t play again until Thursday morning at 9:00. If they lose to Skutt Catholic they will play Wednesday afternoon at 4:30.
The North Platte Lady Bulldogs missed out on the state tournament last season by a miniscule margin in the wild card points from the NSAA. This year the Dawgs didn’t leave anything to chance by winning the district championship.
North Platte was the No. 1 seed and hosted the B-6 District Tournament at the Dowhower Softball Complex last Thursday and Friday. The Bulldogs had a first round bye then played No. 4 seed Cozad in the quarterfinals. The Haymakers rallied to beat No. 5 Scottsbluff 12-11 in the first round to advance.
The Lady Dawgs were in a battle against Cozad until late in the game when North Platte strung a few hits together and took advantage of errors committed by Cozad to get the 9-2 win and advance to the semifinals.
In the semis North Platte played McCook, a team they had a 2-2 record against this season. The second-seeded Lady Bison beat No. 3 Gering 9-1 to get to this point.
North Platte jumped out to a 3-0 lead early then held on as McCook scored two runs late to get the 3-2 win and advance to the district championship game.
The Dawgs would once again face McCook after the Lady Bison dropped down and once again beat Gering, who had come back through the consolation bracket. McCook was riding high after rallying for three runs late in the game to beat Gering 10-9.
Having come so close to the state tournament last year and not making it there was all the fuel the Dawgs would need as they dominated McCook 9-1 in the championship game to get the six-inning run rule victory. North Platte’s clean up hitter, Mikenzi Wiseman hit two home runs in the game and Kylie Engelman added another to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
North Platte now goes in as the No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 seed Omaha Skutt Catholic in the first round of the state tournament. The game is scheduled for 9:00 am Wednesday morning in Hastings and it can be heard on ESPN Radio 1410 and online at www.northplattepost.com with Robert Lovell on the call.
North Platte and Skutt Catholic have played twice this season with Skutt winning the first game 6-1 then North Platte winning the second, 4-1.
The Nebraska School Activities Association will be conducting its 2013 State Softball Championships in Hastings on October 16-18.
Twenty-four teams, eight teams from Class A, B & C will be participating in first-round games at the Smith Softball Complex on Wednesday (Oct 16th). Semifinal games are scheduled for Thursday (Oct 17th), with the championship finals scheduled for Fridayafternoon (Oct 18th). See the attached bracket for details on the qualifying teams, game locations and times.
Tickets, which are day passes, are available $9 for adults and $7 for students (age 5 through high school) and can be purchased online at https://nsaahome.ticketleap.com/, or at the championship site.
The North Platte Community College Softball team has finished up their 2013 Fall Season. The season included trips to McCook to face McCook Community College, Scottsbluff to face TC Thunder, Chadron State College and Western Nebraska Community College and Kearney to face the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The Fall Season cumulated with a 21 inning sponsorship game against McCook Community College at home.
The Lady Knights and Lady Indians of McCook played three games (21 innings) and had sponsorship from the community for almost every inning. The Lady Knights softball’s host families had a barbecue feed between games two and three that fed both softball teams, fans from both teams and all the volunteers.
“Having sponsors within the community is huge for us,” said head coach Janelle Higgins. “For a small community we really do have a great support system. Thanks to our host families for putting on the barbeque.”
Sponsorship for the games includes:
Premier Audio Video Inc
Dave’s Auto-Body
Tri State Spa
Rosenberg Insurance Inc
ATC Communication
Lusk Heating and Air Conditioning Inc
Merricks Ranch House
Dr. Debs Express Medical Care
Kimberly Suter DDS
Lieber Business Group
First Nebraska Financial Services Inc
The Sports Shoppe
Franzen Plumbing
Menards
Tattoo Clinic
DOM LLC
With the end of the Fall Season the Lady Knights begin preparation for their first scheduled game on Feb. 15 2014 against Colby Community College. The Fall Season was the first collegiate softball for the 11 new players to the program and a return for six Lady Knights from a year ago.
The Lady Knights will participate in CrossFit workouts during the winter months. Also, the Lady Knights are already working on their annual “Spirit Haunting in a Ghost Town” that will be held at the Lincoln County Historical Museum from Oct. 23-31.
“It was a great way to end our fall season (21 inning game),” said Higgins. “We saw a lot of good leadership from our returning athletes and we are excited about the enthusiasm our freshmen are bringing. The team is excited about the starting of CrossFit and we are looking forward to the haunted house coming up at the end of the month. We have added new scenes and twists to it this year!”
The North Platte Lady Bulldogs softball team ran their winning streak to six games on Thursday with a 4-1 win over Hastings in Kearney. North Platte then had the winning streak snapped with a 5-4 loss to Lincoln East. Click here for the box score against Hastings.
Bulldogs Pitcher Katie Franzen Delivers a Pitch Against Omaha Gross
Hastings- The North Platte Bulldogs softball team started the 2013 season with a split against Omaha Gross and Omaha Skutt at the double header played in Hastings on Thursday. North Platte beat Omaha Gross 12-3 before losing to Omaha Skutt 6-1.
The Bulldogs and the Bison from McCook met Omaha Gross and Omaha Skutt in Hastings for a double header against the two Omaha schools.
North Platte played Omaha Gross in its first game of the day. The Bulldogs took the lead early before the Cougars of Omaha Gross scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning. The Bulldogs quickly responded by scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to go on top 5-3. The inning was headlined by Mikenzi Wiseman’s inside the park three-run home run. Once the Dawgs jumped on top they didn’t look back en route to a 12-3 run-rule win over Omaha Gross Catholic in six innings.
Katie Franzen started inside the circle for the Bulldogs against Omaha Gross and threw six innings, giving up just three runs with two of them earned. Franzen set the Cougars down in order the final three innings and finished with two strikeouts.
The Bulldogs scored four runs in the sixth inning to go along with the four scored in the third. Marisa Ramos had an RBI triple for the Dawgs and freshman Willow Chitty reached base four times with three singles and scored three runs to go along with two stolen bases. Bulldogs coach BJ Songster liked what she saw out of her freshman second baseman, Chitty.
“I’m very proud of her and excited to see her growth and what else she can bring to our team,” Songster said. “And I hope that it challenges the rest of our team to see what their capable of doing and create that inter squad competition.”
Omaha Skutt Catholic pitched future Nebraska Cornhusker Kaylan Jablonski against the Bulldogs in the night cap on Thursday. Jablonski was dominant for five innings, taking a no hitter in to the sixth before giving up back-to-back singles to Hannah Hays and Chitty with one out in the inning. North Platte broke up the no-hitter and the shutout in the same inning as Hays came around to score on a first and third situation when Chitty stole second base. That run was the lone run for the Bulldogs in the game and they only had three hits. Jenny Keck had the third hit with a single in the seventh inning.
The Skyhawks from Omaha Skutt Catholic did most of their damage in the second inning. They scored five runs on five hits and received some help from North Platte as the Bulldogs committed four errors in the inning. Jablonski helped her own cause with a two-RBI single in the inning then added an inside the park solo home run later in the game.
Marisa Ramos pitched the first four innings for North Platte and gave up five runs with four of them earned. All of the runs came in the second inning and Ramos showed great mental toughness by coming back out and shutting down the Skyhawks the next two innings. Keck pitched the final three innings and gave up just the solo home run to Jablonski and had one strikeout. Coach Songster was pleased with the fight the Bulldogs showed after falling down 5-0.
“I think it says a lot about our team,” Songster said. “That’s the biggest thing, to persevere; of course we want to play errorless ball, but it’s how you can bounce back and keep persevering through things.”
Jablonski finished the game with 14 strikeouts for Omaha Skutt Catholic.
The Bulldogs are now 1-1 and will next play in the LPS Invite in Lincoln on Saturday. North Platte is scheduled to play Omaha Skutt once again along with Milford and Lincoln East.
Songster said they will likely face Jablonski again for the Skyhawks and she looks forward to seeing how her players adjust.
“We know what we need to prepare for [Friday] at practice,” Songster said. “The biggest thing is making adjustments early on and I think we started doing that towards the end of [today’s] game. Hopefully they know what to expect now and we can work on those things we need to work on and we can take it to them on Saturday.”
