Peyton Plotts hit a team-best .359 for UK last year but coach Rachel Lawson says she can make hard contact on a bigger variety of pitches this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Junior outfielder Peyton Plotts hit a team-best 359 and also led Kentucky with 16 home runs, 15 doubles and 54 RBIs in 2025.
“She has not exceeded any of my expectations because I think she is that good,” Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson said. “Every year I tell players that their goal is to increase what you do.”
Plotts was ranked as the No. 38 overall player for this class by Extra Innings Softball coming out of Tates Creek High School. She hit .306 her freshman season at UK with eight homers in 50 games.
She has started 86 games in two seasons and played in 109 games. She has a career .339 batting average with 98 hits, 80 RBI’s, 24 homers and 21 doubles. Lawson believes she can be even better this year.
“Peyton has really taken it to heart to improve and the number of pitches she can make hard contact on has gone way up. She has always had a great spray chart. She has a great mind for the game,” Lawson said.
“Even this winter you could tell she had made some slight adjustments to get to other pitches the other teams used to get here out. I have watched her continue to grow. She is a very humble athlete who just does the work.”
The work has paid off. Kentucky is off to a 5-1 start and Plotts is leading the team with 6 RBIs. She is also hitting .421 with two home runs, three doubles and one triple. She has struck out just one time in 19 at-bats.
Plotts leads in her own way.
“She is a genius and an incredibly high emotional leader. Her ACT (test score) was off the chart,” the Kentucky coach said. “She is not loud, but when she speaks it is gold and people listen.
“She is more the type to pull people aside and say, ‘Try thinking this way.’ Her parents are that way, and she takes that role in her leadership aspect.”
