2015 SEASON OUTLOOK
The 2014 season was a year of growth for the Defiance College softball team and the Yellow Jackets will look to transform the experiences gained from a year ago into a possible run at a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. This spring, DC returns seven players with significant starting experience from last year and will be led by a duo of seniors in Tori Plummer (Perrysburg) and Brittany Sough (DeGraff/Riverside). “We had a pretty young team last season and it showed in the final standings,” said Head Coach Jodie Holava who will be entering her 10th season as head coach. “But I think we now have a good foundation of experienced players as well as a talented freshmen class with 14 newcomers to the roster, we feel 2015 can be an improvement from last spring.” OUTFIELD The Yellow Jacket outfield will return five players, including three players with starting experience in Shough, junior Megan Pleskovic (Strongsville) and sophomore Emily Denhard (Troy, Mich./Kolbe Academy). Shough started all 33 games last season and led the team in batting average at .308 (28-of-91). Her 28 base hits were tied for the team best and she was tied for third in runs batted in with 11. In addition, she also hit one triple, had a pair of doubles and scored six runs. Defensively, Shough had a .945 fielding percentage with 61 putouts and eight assists. Pleskovic saw playing time in 28 games and started 23. She batted .222 at the plate (12-of-54) with a double, four runs scored and four RBI. Denhard started 19 of 24 games and posted a .217 batting average (10-of-46) at the plate. She was third on the team in runs scored with 10 and was tied for second in walks with 11. Denhard also drove in three runs. Also back for Defiance will be junior Katie Haydett (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Lakeview) and sophomore Kayla Clute (Onsted, Mich./Onsted). Haydett played in 20 games and started seven while batting .154 (two-of-13) with seven runs scored. Clute also provided depth at the outfielder position
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DEFIANCE COLLEGE SOFTBALL - TEAM34