School: Plano East

Taylor Jones

What she did: Jones went 4-0 with three shutouts for the week. She shut out Grapevine in Game 3 of a best-of-3 area-round series Monday, then shut out state-ranked Keller in a one-game Class 5A Region I quarterfinal Tuesday. Jones then picked up two wins over Weatherford – including an 11-inning shutout with 17 strikeouts Friday – as Plano East (23-14-1) swept a best-of-3 regional semifinal series. Plano East, the No. 4 seed from District 8-5A, advanced to play Flower Mound Marcus in the regional final.

The stats: Jones is 23-12 with a 1.19 ERA and 16 shutouts. She has 255 strikeouts in 222 2/3 innings. She's hitting .298. Jones is 7-1 in the playoffs, with five of the wins coming against teams that won or shared a district title. She has pitched shutouts in four of her last five games.

Who is she? A senior pitcher. Next year, she will play softball for Northwood University in Cedar Hill.

She said it: "People took us lightly, and they shouldn't have. Our district was so strong. It prepared us for this."

Coach said it: "Everybody I talked to [after Friday's game], the word that came out was workhorse. She was like a machine. Nothing really fazed her." – Karen Kalhoefer

Did you know? Jones plans to major in business and sports management. ... She enjoys reading mystery novels.