North Platte head softball coach Farrah Seckel has led the Lady Panthers to a 20-8 regular season record and the No. 2 seed in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament.
DEARBORN – The North Platte softball team (20-8) started the fall off strong with 11 wins in the first 12 games and has had an up-and-down season since then but has clinched a top-2 seed in districts.
North Platte has been knocking on the door for its first district title since 2014 in each of the last three seasons, clinching a top-3 seed every year. This season, the Lady Panthers clinched the No. 2 seed in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament.
In the last two seasons, North Platte has made it one round further than it did in the year prior and was the 2022 Class 2 District 7 Runner-Up. With the postseason tournament being at Mid-Buchanan High School, the Lady Panthers will open up district play with a matchup against No. 7 seeded East Buchanan (0-15) on Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m.
North Platte finished the regular season with two losses in its last five games. Lawson won 6-2 on Oct. 3, strongly due to the Lady Panthers’ four errors on the day.
North Platte bounced back with a gritty 8-7 win over Penney on Oct. 5. The Lady Panthers went down 4-0 in the first inning but responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Lindsay Ramsey home run.
The Lady Hornets added a run in the top of the fifth inning, making the score 5-2. North Platte had back-to-back innings with three runs each to go up 8-5.
The Lady Hornets had a chance to tie or take the lead in the seventh inning, bringing the game within one run and having one runner on base with two outs. Kate Wolf struck out the last batter – with the third strike being a tipped foul ball that was out – to pull out the victory.
North Platte ended regular season play with a tough 3-1 loss to Polo (16-3) on Oct. 9. The Lady Panthers only had four hits on the night, three of which happened in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Trailing 2-0 at the time, Camryn Kersten homered over the center field fence for the Lady Panthers’ first hit since Ramsey doubled in the second inning. Wolf followed that up with a single and the bases eventually loaded when Mckenna Cunningham singled and Kenedie Summers was walked, but Polo closed out the inning.
North Platte gave up one more run in the top of the seventh inning. Wolf struck out 10 batters on the night.