NPCC Athletics
North Platte, Neb. – The Knights softball team earned their first two wins of the season by defeating the Lumberjacks of Dakota State at Bottineau in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. In the win, Mark Franzen earns his first two wins of his collegiate coaching career.
North Platte 10 Dakota State 6
Knights exploded for five runs in the first and second innings, before holding off the Lumberjacks in the fourth inning to claim their first win of the season.
Sheena Smith earned the start in the circle where she pitched four innings, allowing six runs on four hits. Sarah Perez came on in relief and allowed only two hits and struck out three batters in three innings of work.
Dakota State tacked on the first run in the top of the first inning, before the Knights loaded the bases with two walks and a single by Victoria Arellano. A Perez sacrifice plated the first run of the inning as the Knights went on to add four more runs in the frame.
The Lumberjacks retired the first two batters for North Platte in the second inning, before a single by Arellano helped trigger the Knights offense. Heaven Hutchison continued the hit parade and was followed by RBI singles from Perez, Samantha Seger, and Smith. North Platte tallied their final run of the inning on a walk to take a 10-1 lead.
Trailing by nine runs, Dakota State recorded five runs in the fourth inning and looked poised to cut into the deficit with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth. Perez went to work in the circle and kept the Lumberjacks off the scoreboard, as the Knights put the finishing touches on their win.
North Platte 12 Dakota State 4
North Platte continued their dominance in the second game as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Dakota State cut into the deficit with two runs in the top of the second inning.
A sacrifice bunt by Alieze Moreno plated Callie Klemenz in the bottom half of the frame to double up the Lumberjacks. Dakota State knotted the game up with a run in the fourth and fifth innings before the Knights blasted four runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Moreno took the first pitch of the fifth inning and sent it over the center field fence to break the deadlock. North Platte put two runners on the basepaths, before a sacrifice bunt and error by the Lumberjacks third baseman plated two more runs. Back-to-back singles by Wren Herrick and Byanka Tyan plated the final run to make the score 8-4.
North Platte held off the Lumberjacks in the top of the sixth and continued to add four more runs in the bottom half of the frame to lock up the 12-4 win.
Perez earned the start in the circle allowing two runs on one hit, before Moreno came on in relief allowing two runs on four hits and two strikeouts.
North Platte (2-10) returns home next Saturday to take on the Trojans of Colby Community College. First pitch is set for noon at the Dowhower Softball Complex.