LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – Greenbrier East Lady Spartans catcher Olivia Plybon can make the difficult look easy, and the unthinkable seem routine. Possessing a strong throwing arm and a powerful bat (.310, HR, 8 RBIs, 16 runs scored- as of 4-26) Plybon has worked extremely hard since she was young at the craft of catching.
One of the most grueling positions in all of sports, catchers are constantly going up and down, throwing to first, throwing to second, kneeling back down, chasing a ball to the backstop, and so forth.
But Plybon never complains. Instead, while she does acknowledge it is a physical position, she admits the mental side of things is the hardest part.
“Catching is not easy. Trust me it’s been a long journey,” Plybon said.
“Many injuries, hard practices, permanent bruising, and so much more, yet I’m still dedicated to putting my best foot forward every game. In the beginning, I wasn’t the best, but Matt Boswell saw the potential in me to become one of the best. I worked hard with the help of his coaching and have put the effort in behind it. Since I’ve had the fundamentals down, I’ve had to focus on the mental aspect of the position. To be a successful catcher, you don’t only have to be physically talented, you have to have one of the best mental states in order to be the best. Catching is hard, especially the mental part of it. To have the ability to go out and perform the best you possibly can is difficult knowing you’re not going to receive much credit at all. This takes a special person and not many people have the dedication to do it anymore,” she explained.
Another challenge for Plybon is learning, interacting, and developing a familiarity for different pitchers. She gets the pleasure of catching for two good ones, senior Josi Ervin, a left-hander, and Lily Carola, a righty. Plybon says it just comes down to knowing your teammate.
“I have been catching Josi for a long time. With that being said, we’ve built a bond allowing us to work very well together. It really has nothing to do with which side the ball is coming from. Josi works really hard, and I do my part to make her look even better on certain pitches. For Lily, I haven’t worked with her as much, making it a little more difficult to build a bond,” Plybon stated.
Plybon’s senior season is ending soon, and she just had her senior night this past Saturday. She has already signed to play college softball at St. Andrews University in North Carolina, but the memories she will be leaving behind at Spartan field where her family sits in the bleachers, will always give her a smile, but she will definitely miss being a Spartan.
“What I will miss the most about being a Spartan softball player will be playing with the girls that I’ve grown up playing with throughout my time on the softball field,” Plybon said.
“My family has always been supportive of my decisions, even if they may counteract with what they believe is best for me. I have had some difficult situations throughout my time at East, but they always have been nothing but supportive and encouraging throughout all the late nights, long travels, hard losses, and of course, victories,” she added.
It is tough to do, but she is trying her best to not make the senior thing a sad occasion, and instead look at it as another road on her path to greatness.
“Although many people relate sad feelings to endings such as senior night, I see this as a new beginning. Sure, there will be some emotions related to the end of an era, but my experience at East has truly made me grateful and excited to experience a new beginning for both school and softball at St. Andrews University in the fall,” Plybon explained gracefully.
However, after all the talk of the end, new beginnings and a brighter outlook, Plybon still plays for a top 10 team this season, and she knows her business is presently unfinished at this level.
“My realistic goals once the postseason starts are to really come together as a team and put our best foot forward. It would be amazing to obtain the regional champion title and make an appearance at the state tournament,” she concluded.
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