Healthy Lady Big Red ready for 2019 season

PLYMOUTH - The Plymouth Lady Big Red were beaten up last season.

They were down two players key players in 2018 and still managed a 14-13 overall record. Now, they are healthy and reloaded with an amazing 10 returning letter-winners and all nine starters back in 2019. They didn't lose a single player to graduation and that spells trouble for their opponents.

Head coach Tracy Arnold, who is 49-28 and entering her fourth season at the helm, believes this may be the deepest Big Red squad in recent memory.

"We have experienced hitters from tip to bottom in the lineup and our overall speed has improved," Arnold said. "We are focused on being patient at the plate and continue to work on improving our pitch selections."

Plymouth expecting improved offensive, strong defense

Offensively, the Lady Big Red should be improved. They sported a .329 team batting average last season headlined by senior Shilo Plank who hit .409 with 36 hits and 15 RBI. She will handle the catching duties while senior Morgan Chaffins will be at first base after hitting .364 as a junior with 32 hits and 25 RBI.

Senior Emily Blanton is back from an ACL injury that kept her off the field as a junior and will split time at second base with sophomore Ariel Plank who had a stellar freshman season, hitting .314 with 27 hits and 26 RBI. Seniors Emily Akers and Blanton will split time at shortstop as well. Akers had a nice junior season hitting .337 with 31 hits and 20 RBI. Senior Tristen Wiley rounds out the infield at third base after she hit .363 as a junior with 33 hits and 18 RBI.

"Defensively, we have returning lettermen at every position and we are fortunate to have a player return from an ACL injury as well as add two more utility players," Arnold said. "We need to work on not putting too much pressure on ourselves and staying relaxed in the field."

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Junior Maycie Creveling is the starter in left while senior Kelsey Blankenship is in center and junior Olivia Fidler and freshman Kaela Plank will split time in right. Creveling hit .263 last season while Blankenship sported a .319 average. Junior Hannah Gillium will be the first player off the bench.

Mallory Miller, Ariel Plank return to the circle

The biggest returning player of them all is senior Mallory Miller. She is back in the circle after tossing 108 innings in 2018 going 10-10 with a 3.31 earned run average with 83 strikeouts. She also hit .388 with 31 hits and 17 RBI.

Ariel Plank may see some time in the circle as well after tossing 58 2/3 innings a year ago when she went 4-3 with a 3.94 ERA with 40 strikeouts.

The Lady Big Red will look to compete in a loaded Firelands Conference which features Crestview and Monroeville as the early favorites.

"Our goal is to get better every day, compete to the best of our ability and make a conference run," Arnold said. "On any given day, anyone can win in the Firelands Conference. Crestview and Monroeville should be strong again this year. We should be competitive and finish in the upper half of the league.

The Lady Big Red kick off their season at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 23 at Buckeye Central.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11