The accolades continue to add up for the North Platte softball team (21-3) who has added to this special season with a share of the KCI Conference Title and the top-seed in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament.
After posting a 6-1 conference record this fall – only losing to Lawson (22-4) – the Lady Panthers have brought home the first conference title since 2015, both of which were co-conference titles. Since North Platte beat Lathrop (13-11) and lost to Lawson but Lawson defeated North Platte and fell to Lathrop, the Lady Panthers and Lady Cardinals share the conference title this season.
The defeat to Lawson was recent as North Platte came up short 6-5 on Oct. 4 in the final home game of the fall. The Lady Panthers found themselves in unfamiliar territory – trailing 5-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning – against the KCI rivals and their comeback bid fell just a bit short.
Facing a 4-run deficit, North Platte scored a couple of runs in the inning when Lindsey Ramsey had an RBI single to send Olivia Rogers home and Jaylin Burgess scored on a Lawson error later in the inning. North Platte failed to have a hit in the ensuing inning, but a pair of singles by Rogers and Burgess with one out on the board put the Lady Panthers in position to get back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Ramsey had a sacrifice fly to right field and Rogers sped across home plate to close the gap to 6-5, but the next North Platte batter got out. The Lady Panther defense forced three Lawson outs in the top of the seventh inning and North Platte had one more chance to bat before regulation ended with a one-run deficit.
After Scarlett Slugantz grounded out and Carly Hinton’s foul ball was caught, Kenedie Summers connected on a line drive to the Lawson pitcher and reached first base on an error. With two outs and one runner on, freshman Kate Wolf hit a ground ball to third base and couldn’t get to first base before the ball did, and the Lady Panthers lost their first conference game since 2021, which was also against Lawson.
North Platte senior Jaylin Burgess has helped lead the Lady Panthers to the No. 1 seed in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament and KCI Co-Conference Champions for the first time since 2015.
North Platte bounced back with a big 15-4 victory over Penney (5-15) in the regular season finale on Oct. 6. The Lady Panthers enter the postseason with their best record since finishing 25-3 in 2015, which was also the last time they won a district title.
North Platte has had some big wins this fall, including defeats over the reigning Class 2 Runner-Up Sherwood (22-4) and some Class 3 schools, such as Benton (17-7), Savannah (15-6) and Maryville (7-13). The Lady Panthers’ two other losses other than Lawson were to Savannah –who they beat in the second matchup – and Class 3 St. Joseph’s Lafayette (15-12) in the Mid-Buchanan Tournament.
North Platte will start with a bye in the postseason tournament, beginning play in the Class 2 District 7 Semifinals on Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. against the winner of West Platte (11-6) and Plattsburg (13-11). If the Lady Panthers win, they will play in the district championship game on Oct. 15 at noon at Perkins Park in Plattsburg.