The Panther’s offense erupted for 19 hits and 15 runs on Sept. 16 as the North Platte softball team defeated West Platte in a demanding fashion, 15-5.
North Platte set the tone early when it took a three-run lead in the opening inning that started off with a pair of singles by Gracie Ramsey and Olivia Rogers. That was followed by a pop fly from Jaylin Burgess that was dropped by the Blue Jays and a groundout by freshman Lindsay Ramsey scored two more runs, and Panthers led 3-0.
North Platte scored another run at the top of the third inning and West Platte got on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Blue Jay freshman Emma Downing singled and eventually stole home to score their first run.
A single by Colby Shepardson batted in her sister, Hailey Shepardson, and West Platte narrowed the deficit 4-2. The Panthers responded with seven runs in the next two innings and the Blue Jays found themselves trailing 11-2.
“Offense has always been our attack, we always have to play more offense than they do,” North Platte head coach Farrah Seckel said. “Our pitching was pretty good tonight; most of the contact they made wasn’t great contact, so we were able to keep them from scoring.”
West Platte made a comeback attempt with six hits in the bottom of the fifth inning when North Platte had two errors that led to three runs. With an 11-5 lead entering the sixth inning, the Panthers didn’t hold back and scored four more runs to put the game out of reach for the Blue Jays.
Courtney Dehn was the leading batter for North Platte as the sophomore ended the contest with five hits and two RBIs. Gracie Ramsey and Lindsay Ramsey both finished with four hits, while the freshman added four RBIs.
For West Platte, Downing had two hits while Colby Shepardson ended with two hits and two RBIs. Dehn was on the mound for the Panthers and ended with five strikeouts and Emily VanNatta finished with three strikeouts for the Blue Jays.
Both teams headed into the contest with a 0-1 regular season record in the KCI Conference. On Sept. 9, North Platte fell to Lathrop and West Platte lost to East Buchanan.
“Lathrop is at the top right now so we’ll have to see if someone else will beat them because in softball, you just never know. We are going to the end of conference play like it is up for grabs because it just might be,” Seckel said.
North Platte will be back at it when they head to Faucett to take on Mid-Buchanan on Sept. 23. West Platte’s next contest is at home when it hosts Penney on Sept. 23.
North Platte junior Jaylin Burgess throws the ball to first base when the North Platte softball team took on West Platte on Thursday, Sept. 16.