Knights Softball falls short in final games of SCC Tournament

West Burlington, Iowa – The North Platte Community College softball team dropped its final games in the Southeastern Softball Turf Tournament in Iowa over the weekend. 

Rock Valley 

The Knights faced off with Rock Valley College first on Saturday and ultimately fell to the Golden Eagles 7-3. Rock Valley took the lead early – scoring a walk in the first inning and two singles and a double in the second. 

Angelina Lockhart was in the circle for the Knights. She went five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out four. Sasha Strandberg threw two innings in relief out of the bullpen. 

Kelsey Woodhouse led North Platte in two hits in four at bats. 

Kankakee 

The Knights stayed in until the end of the second game Saturday night against Kankakee Community College. KCC eventually pulled away late in a 7-5 victory, despite the Knights out hitting the Cavaliers 11 to seven.  

NPCC opened up scoring in the first inning, with a single by Taelyn Dakamas. The Cavaliers tied things up at five in the top of the sixth inning then pulled ahead in the top of the eighth after doubling on a 2-2 count, earning a run. 

Elena Montoya, Woodhouse and Dakamas and all had hits, with the latter two each collecting three. 

As pitcher, Sasha Strandberg surrendered four runs on three hits over three and a third innings, striking out five. 

"We battled a few obstacles on Saturday as games were behind about an hour and a half, so that threw our routine off," said Janelle Higgins, NPCC head softball coach. "During the second game, the lights shut off in the dome as we were playing after 11 p.m." 

Triton 

The tournament continued Sunday with games against Triton College and Black Hawk College. North Platte played the Triton Trojans first and fell 9-4. 

The Trojans took an early lead in the first inning after scoring a run on a double. 

April Grace started the game for the Knights. The righthander allowed seven hits and seven runs over two and a third innings, striking out two. 

North Platte was able to even things up in the bottom of the second inning thanks to doubles from Lockhart and Woodhouse and a single from Juliana Ortiz. 

The Trojans answered by pulling away for good with three runs in the third inning.  

Strandberg surrendered two runs on seven hits over four and two-thirds innings, walking one. Ortiz went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead the Knights in hits.  

Black Hawk 

Black Hawk took the win in the final game, 10-1. The Braves snagged the lead on a double in the first inning and sealed the deal with four runs in the fifth. 

Dakamas toed the rubber for the Knights. She lasted four innings, allowing eight hits and six runs while striking out one. 

Woodhouse, Dakamas, Montoya and Lili Kukučková each collected one hit for North Platte. 

"These last four games, we played great competition," Higgins said. "We were in the games. Our bats just fell asleep for too many innings. Our girls fought all weekend, made adjustments and competed - just ran out of steam. Today, you could tell we had played four games in about 15 hours - one extra inning game. That is tough this early in the season." 

NPCC is now 1-7 on the season. 

The Knights will play next in Norfolk. They will take on Northeast Community College March 8 in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. 

The most up-to-date information about NPCC athletics can be found on the Knights Facebook and Twitter accounts and online at npccknights.com.