A solid group of returnees from last year’s team that made it to Divisionals, along with some promising newcomers give the Plains Trotters reason to be optimistic heading into their season-opener this Saturday in Polson.

Head coach Kati Mitchell welcomes back a pair of experienced and talented seniors, along with several other players who acquired Divisional and regular season experience last year.

Among the top returnees, Mitchell said, are pitcher Piper Bergstrom and hitting standout Kassidy O’Keefe. They will be joined by sophomore power hitter Maddy Blood, who had a solid year at the plate as a freshman for the Trotters.

“I have some promising young girls on the team this year,” Mitchell said. “Some have no experience and some are talented. We did ask eighth graders to come up to our high school team and three decided to take us up on that”.

Mitchell pointed to juniors Marissa Young, Jaelyn Carr and Teirainy Bellinger as players who could make a big impact on the team, while sophomores Blood and Allyah Heathers are also expected to make significant contributions.

Plains is also counting on seniors Izzy Crabb, who also had a good year in 2022 to bolster their line-up this season, along with senior Faith McGonagle who emerged as a solid player on last year’s team.

All of that returning talent, along with a promising infusion of youngsters is reason to believe this year’s team can be better than last year.

“This year we hope to get further than we did in Divisionals last year”, Mitchell said. “Our ultimate goal is State. We have a talented group of girls who are very driven and competitive. They are willing to work hard everyday and want to attain our goals”.

Mitchell said the closeness on this year’s team is also a big reason to expect good things.

“We are a family and that is the biggest strength these girls have,” she said. “They have each others’ backs and will be the support everyone needs on and off the field. We might have a few young girls, but everyone plays a part for us this year for us to be successful”.

Plains opens the season this Saturday, March 25 at the Polson Invitational. They play Sanders County rival Thompson Falls Tuesday, March 28 in T Falls to kick off conference play.