All five area teams suffer season-ending losses in districts

With a line drive to shortstop, softball season in Platte County came to a close last Saturday afternoon. North Platte lost a close one to Bishop LeBlond in the Class 2 District 16 title game while Park Hill South could not get its offense going until late against Staley Friday night in the Class 4 District 16 finale.Platte County, Park Hill and West Platte all lost in the semifinals of their respective districts — but all five teams return a majority of their rosters for next season and four of the five constructed winning records this year. • NORTH PLATTE ran into St. Joseph Bishop LeBlond in the Class 2 District 16 finale for the second straight year, and for the second straight year were sent home by the Golden Eagles. The Lady Panthers, the top seed in the bracket, roughed up East Buchanan 8-1 in the second round as Jessi Heese hit her eighth homer of the season and drove in three runs. Courtney Kipping (2), Chelsi Sams, Sarah Johnson and Martina Williams also drove in runs. Victoria Haugness only allowed three hits and improved to 9-0 on the mound on the year. Against LeBlond, the Panthers looked primed to exact a little revenge as Johnson drove in Regan Nash in the first inning. However, that was all the offense they would get. LeBlond scored a pair of runs on one hit and two North Platte errors in the sixth inning — the only inning that more than three LeBlond batters came to the plate. Sarah Percell had a no-hitter threw five innings, but the Lady Panthers could not capitalize on having runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the sixth and went down in order in the seventh to see their season come to an end at 19-2.