Tates Creek softball shrugging off adversity in hopes of contending in 43rd District
With a come-from-behind 11-9 win over Frederick Douglass on Monday, Tates Creek’s softball team earned its seventh win of the season against eight losses.
That’s not bad considering who the Commodores have been playing against and — maybe more significantly — who they’ve been playing without.
Tates Creek lost standout outfielder Peyton Plotts to a hamstring injury after just six games. Plotts, a junior committed to the University of Kentucky, led the team with a .512 batting average and smashed 11 homers with 41 runs batted in a year ago. First-year Coach Michael Thomas is hopeful Plotts will be able to return to action in early May.
But in the meantime, he’s beginning to see his lineup make significant strides without her, as they did in overcoming deficits of 6-4, 8-7 and 9-8 on Monday against the Broncos on a cold, windy night at The Farm better suited for football than softball.
Senior catcher Shaylin Lewis hit a three-run home run in the second inning and knocked in a game-tying run in the seventh for the Commodores on Monday against Douglass (5-6). Her three-run homer gave Creek a 7-6 lead in the second. Her seventh-inning RBI hit sparked the final rally.
“I was just making sure I got up in the box. I didn’t try to do too much,” Lewis said of her home run at-bat. “I was just ready to find a pitch. In my head, I was thinking, ‘If she misses, it’s mine,’ you know. So, I was ready for it if it was there. And it was there.”
Sophomore shortstop Tinley Easton, who leads the team with a .434 batting average, also homered during the game and reached base on an error to set up Lewis’ game-tying single. Alyssa Henson had a pair of hits and two RBI, as well.
“After we played (Pleasure Ridge Park) last weekend (a 24-5 win), it seems like the bats are starting to come around and they’re starting to grow together and have confidence in each other,” Thomas said. “That’s basically what it’s coming down to — confidence in each other.”
Tates Creek’s offense helped the team overcome three errors behind senior starter Sophie Shelton. Shelton walked eight, struck out four and allowed seven hits and four earned runs for the complete game win.
Putting all phases of the game together, offense, defense and pitching has been the challenge. Like it did against Douglass, explosive offense can solve some of those issues.
“We’ve been competing,” Thomas said. “We’ve had situations — bases loaded or runners on second and third with one or less out — and we just couldn’t score.”
Part of that struggle comes from playing Kentucky Prep Softball Poll ranked teams like No. 11 Lexington Catholic, No. 12 Male, No. 16 Boyle County, No. 22 Woodford County and No. 24 Great Crossing, as well as highly regarded Barren County.
Those are the kind of teams Tates Creek needs to face to be competitive in the 43rd District where Lexington Catholic and No. 8 Lafayette, the defending 11th Region champion, also reside. Lafayette comes up twice on Tates Creek’s schedule over the next few weeks.
The Commodores played LexCath close in a 5-3 road loss on April 7. That game dealt another significant injury to the team as key reserve Abigail Howell suffered a freak knee injury on the final play of the game, ending her season. The Commodores will meet the Knights again next Wednesday.
“Even though we’ve had a lot of adversity … we’re always there to just pick each other up,” Lewis said. “They’re always in the dugout cheering us on. And it’s just great to see the energy that we bring every game.”
