North Platte poses for a picture after taking second place at the Mid-Buchanan Softball Tournament on Sept. 30.
FAUCETT – Dating back to last softball season, three of North Platte’s last six losses have come to Mid-Buchanan.
North Platte (19-6) has taken on Mid-Buchanan (22-3) twice this season, losing both matchups by a score of 20-4. The Lady Panthers posted a 22-3 record last year entering the Class 2 District 7 Championship Game where they lost 7-6 to the Lady Dragons.
North Platte started this fall off 11-1, but lost four of its next six games, including a KCI Conference matchup with Mid-Buchanan on Sept. 21. The Lady Panthers had an uncharacteristic night struggling to get on base and pitcher Kate Wolf had to leave the game with a sickness as the Lady Dragons won 10-0.
North Platte followed that up with another loss – first time falling in two straight since 2021 – against South Harrison (15-5) on Sept. 25. The Lady Panthers bounced back with two consecutive conference wins against Plattsburg (18-4) and East Buchanan (0-13) before competing in the Mid-Buchanan Tournament and taking second place on Sept. 30.
North Platte opened the tournament with a dominant 15-4 win over North Andrew (6-8), behind 17 hits. In the next game, the Lady Panthers were tied at 4-4 with Marceline (17-6) in the bottom of the fifth inning when Morgan Ball scored on a wild pitch to claim a victory.
After that, North Platte and South Nodaway (12-3) were in a defensive battle as the game was scoreless in regulation. In extra innings, Kenedie Summers got the ball rolling with a sacrifice fly to send Mckenna Cunningham home.
Graci Williams and Brooke Kretzer had back-to-back triples to put another run on the board, then pushed the lead to 3-0 on an error. Courtney Dehn had an RBI single before North Platte gave up one run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The 4-1 win moved North Platte to the championship game to take on Mid-Buchanan. The Lady Panthers went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning but gave up nine unanswered runs until the fifth inning when Summers had a 2-RBI single.
Mid-Buchanan added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull out a 10-4 victory to win its home tournament. The Lady Panthers only had four hits in the contest, while the Lady Dragons had 10.
North Platte bounced back with a 3-0 road win over Maryville (7-15) on Oct. 2. The Lady Panthers will have one more game ahead of the postseason, a home matchup against Penney (8-10) on Oct. 5.