Gordonsville’s Kailey Plumlee Named Gatorade Tennessee Softball Player Of The Year

Via Gatorade:

In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade announced Kailey Plumlee of Gordonsville High School is the 2023-’24 Gatorade Tennessee Softball Player of the Year.

Plumlee is the second Gatorade Tennessee Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Gordonsville High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Plumlee as Tennessee’s best high school softball player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Amanda Freed (1997-98, Pacifica High School, Calif.), Cat Osterman (2000-01, Cypress Springs High School, Texas), Rachel Garcia (2014-15 & 2012-13, Highland High School, Calif.) and Ava Brown (2022-23 & 2021-22, Lake Creek High School, Texas).

The 5-foot-10 junior left-handed pitcher led the Tigers to a 33-5 record and a Class 1A state championship this past season. Plumlee compiled a 28-2 record in the circle with a 0.99 ERA in 149 innings pitched. She surrendered just 33 hits while striking out 359 batters. She also batted .551 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI, posting an OPS of 2.058. Ranked as Softball America’s No. 9 pitcher in the Class of 2025, she struck out 12 batters and also homered in Gordonsville’s 11-1 state title-clinching win over Jo Byrns.

Plumlee has volunteered locally in her church nursery and as youth a softball instructor. She has also assisted with the Birmingham Thunderbolts’ 2027 West team as a coach and participates in her school’s BETA club.

“She’s a good pitcher and hitter—she has a good stick,” said Christy Bingham, head coach at Riverdale High School. “We had to
work around her. She has a tight swing and there are only two small areas you can pitch to in order to try and keep her off balance. She also throws really well. She has good speed and spin. She was by far the best pitcher we’ve seen.”
Plumlee has maintained a 3.7 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has verbally committed to play softball on scholarship at the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2025.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Plumlee joins recent Gatorade Tennessee Softball Players of the Year Elsa Morrison (2022-23, Farragut High School), Ashtyn Danley (2021-22, Huntland High School), Sydney Berzon (2020-21, Baylor School) and Aubrey Barnhart (2019-20, Goodpasture Christian School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations. To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.