Plano East incoming sophomore Emerson Bailey was named the District 6-6A Utility Player of the Year after she hit .342 with 15 RBIs. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Plano East recently completed its spring sports season and the Panthers experienced plenty of success in its final season in District 6-6A.
The Murphy Monitor will look back at the accomplishments of Plano East’s baseball, softball and track and field teams.
Baseball
Challenges were aplenty for the Panthers – most notably having to play their home games at Naaman Forest and Rowlett high schools because of recent construction at Plano East High School to renovate the baseball and softball fields.
Plano East also brought in a new head coach with the hiring of former Naaman Forest coach Carey Willingham taking over the reins.
A 3-1 start to 6-6A play had the Panthers firing on all cylinders. However, Plano East proceeded to drop in the district standings following a five-game losing streak in the middle of 9-6A play. Although Plano East rebounded with a four-game winning streak, the Panthers had their playoff aspirations cut short by Allen in the final week of the regular season.
Plano East finished 18-12 overall and 7-9 in District 6-6A. The Panthers went 10-3 during non-district play, highlighted by a 4-3 win over a Tyler Legacy team that won 27 games and was a regional finalist.
Graduation will take a hit on Plano East as it lost 14 seniors from this year’s team, but they will return six underclassmen who logged significant playing time.
Softball
One year after making the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and reaching its first regional final since 2012, the Lady Panthers set high goals for this year.
Despite losing four key seniors to graduation, including pitcher Jadyn Dawson, last year’s 6-6A MVP, Plano East leaned on seven starters and also welcomed three varsity newcomers who were ready to make their mark.
Everything came together at the start of district play for the Lady Panthers. Plano East was 5-4 through nine games and in postseason contention. However, a rough stretch of play in which the Lady Panthers lost four straight games to Plano West, Prosper, McKinney Boyd and Rock Hill proved too much for them to overcome, and Plano East came up just short in its quest for a second consecutive playoff berth.
The Lady Panthers finally ended that losing streak with an 8-6 win over Plano, followed by a 13-3 rout of McKinney. Plano East was competitive against Allen in its final game of the season – a 2-1 Lady Eagles win.
Plano East finished with an 8-15-2 overall record and a 7-9 district record.
Incoming sophomore catcher Emerson Bailey, who was named the District 6-6A Utility Player of the Year, finished with a .342 batting average with 25 RBIs and 10 runs scored. Defensively, she committed five errors on 81 total chances for a .938 fielding percentage.
Track and field
Caitlyn Tran and Malachi Terry saved their best for last, qualifying for the Class 6A state meet for the first time, with Tran earning a berth in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles and Terry in the boys’ 200-meter dash.
Tran persevered in one of the toughest districts and areas to earn her first-ever state berth in the hurdles, earning her way into the state meet after placing second in the Region I-6A meet at the University of Texas at Arlington. At the state meet in Austin, Tran, an SMU signee, placed fifth with a wind-aided time of 13.90. She broke the school record three times.
Meanwhile, Terry, a New Jersey Institute of Technology signee, broke the school record in the boys 200 twice and qualified for state after placing second in the regional meet with a time of 21.06. At the state meet, Terry improved on that time and finished eighth with a 21.05.
Plano East’s girls’ 4×100 of Lauryn Bowen, Liana Wright, Ce’Niyah Brown and Kosi Ngadi placed third in the regional meet, while its 4×200 of Bowen, Ngadi, Brown and Sophia Sawyerr took 11th.
Wright also placed sixth at regionals in the 100. Kourtney Houston was sixth in the shot put and 10th in the discus. Maya Shariff placed 10th in the 800. Naomi Williams placed 11th in the triple jump.
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