Florida Atlantic Softball has concluded another successful regular season under 3rd year Head Coach Jordan Clark, finishing 44-9 overall and 23-4 in AAC play, capping off the regular season with an AAC title in the final series against Tulsa, however the race has just gotten started for her Owls.
Last season was a similar story for FAU, as the Owls finished the regular season 41-13, sharing a regular season title with Charlotte and they rolled into the AAC tournament as the number 1 seed, but things turned downhill from there. Wichita State defeated FAU in the semi-finals of the AAC tournament and although the Owls received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, they were ultimately swept in 2 games by FGCU and South Alabama in the Gainesville regional.
Following that heartbreaking end to last season, Coach Clark and her staff went to work this offseason, retaining all eligible players from last season’s roster, adding multiple impact players both freshman and through the transfer portal and also making new additions to her staff.
Those offseason moves worked to the tune of just 9 losses in the regular season and now heading into the postseason, those additions, combined with the fact her squad has been in this position before has Clark, although somewhat stressed, feeling confident this year’s postseason run will turn out differently than last year.
“I feel a little stressed. Because we always tell the girls, act like you’ve been there before, and we can actually say, Hey, we’ve been there before. And it’s also that, you know, as a new coach, as somebody that’s kind of doing this thing for the first time in the leader role, you want to prove that you belong. You want to prove that like you picked this school and your vision, and you’re trying to still sell everybody on what you’re trying to do. And so the fact that the girls were able to win it last year just makes it a little bit easier. And with this year, it’s kind of just icing on the cake that we get to do it with a whole new team. And so this one just kind of feels bittersweet, because in our minds we knew we were going to be good from practice. Number one, the girls we recruited, but everyone else is kind of sitting back, going, wow. Like, how did FAU do this again? This fast? We graduated eight starters from last year. And so, yeah, it’s a little less stressful this go around, but ask me that after Friday’s game and then after Saturday’s game, but we feel really good,” Clark said.
The Owls have had no issue replacing the production that was lost with the 8 graduating seniors, as the staff found talented players in a variety of areas. One of those talented players was Autumn Courtney, who after a dominating season at Queen’s University opted to transfer to FAU, where she built on her already accomplished resume.
Courtney had large shoes to fill in the Owls rotation, replacing Trinity Schlotterbeck, and she had no issue doing it, finishing the year with 30 appearances and 24 starts, a 23-2 record, 1.89 ERA, 156 strikeouts to just 47 walks and opposing hitters batted just .161 against her. It hasn’t just been Courtney dominating in the circle for FAU, at times it has been the entire staff, as closer Ainsley Lambert leads the nation in saves with 10, Jaden Martinez finished the year with a 2.34 era and just pitched the Owls first no hitter since 2002, while Gabby Sacco finished with a 7-2 record and 3 complete games.
The abundance of arms for FAU has left Coach Clark with decisions to make heading into the postseason, as on paper the easy choice is to send Autumn Courtney out there to start with Lambert in relief, however Clark is going to play the matchups and leave no options off the table, a luxury she’s been afforded due to the success of her pitchers.
“You have two games and we have four pitchers to work with. So if that’s throwing everybody one two innings and call it a day. Great. If Autumn goes all seven in both games, I’m good with that too. But you know, we’ll have to go match up to match up. Whatever team it’s gonna be, who pitched well against them, what did it look like? How many balls were squared up? How many lefties, how many righties and kind of trying to play our cards that way? And it’s not necessarily like, I truly believe you can’t hold anything back. I think some teams are like, oh, we’ll save Autumn for the championship game, but who knows if you’re gonna make it to that game? So, like, you gotta play to win every single chance you get on the field. And so, you know, I’ll be anxious to see who we end up with, and kind of doing that game prep for that. But the beauty is we have to play our game, we have to pitch, and we have to hit the way that we’ve been doing. And if we do that, we’re gonna be okay. But yeah, there’s a big question mark. I don’t know who’s gonna pitch, we’ll see. I’m still trying to figure out what we’re gonna eat for lunch tomorrow,” Clark said.
The pitching has been a part of FAU’s success, but equally as important for FAU has been their consistency at the plate. 9 Owls finished the season with a batting average above .300 and every player who started a game finished with a batting average above .250.
The contributions have come from both new Owls and old, as freshman Bella Foran led the Owls with a .423 batting average, while New Mexico State transfer Chloe Yeatts led the team with 51 RBIs. As for the Veteran Owls, Jesiana Mora led FAU with 8 home runs, Kylie Hammonds led with a 1.090 OPS, and Kiley Channell was second on the team with 44 RBIs.
Having an ability to get production anywhere in the order has made this FAU squad an extremely tough team to beat and according to Clark it is a major factor in why she believes her team has been able to be successful this season.
“We were stacked one through 24 (coming into the season) and looking at our offensive numbers and just seeing how many girls are hitting close to 300 people don’t know. Like, it is really hard to hit 300 at the college level, and so for us to be doing it with freshmen, returners, seniors like it doesn’t matter their age, it doesn’t matter how much game experience they have. We’re doing it with transfers. We’re doing it with girls who maybe didn’t even play at their previous school. And so I definitely think that’s a piece of it. When you look at runs, we’ve set the single season run record. And you know, if you would have told me that this would be our offense after last year’s group graduated, I probably would have told you I don’t know, because we knew that we were gonna have to bump, we’re gonna have to run, we’re gonna have to slap, we’re gonna have to move some runners around. And actually, we are beating all power numbers that we have in the past, and so to see this team just come together. And the cool part is that our staff is all on one page, and for us, when it’s drills in practice, when it’s prepping for games like everyone is just bought in the girls are bought in, you don’t see their wheels spinning or second guessing, of like, she told me the right thing. Should I do it this way. And so I do think that definitely plays a part of it,” Clark said.
FAU’s theme this season has been Dare to Race and they have won the first lap in winning an AAC regular season title, however the race has just begun. Although the Owls will be in pursuit of postseason success, Clark says her team will remain composed over the next few weeks, noting that she reminds them to stay “authentically themselves.”
“When you choose FAU, we really encourage our girls to be authentically themselves. Coaching staff as well. You’re gonna hear me laugh, you may hear me cry, you’re probably gonna hear me say maybe a few words that I shouldn’t say at times, and but you’re gonna be you, and we’re never gonna try to put anyone into a bubble and tell them to be something else. And so we know our team from warm ups. I know what kind of day it’s going to be, right? If it’s kind of quiet, kind of then we know that it’s going to be an uphill battle to try to get them going. And so ideally, we want to have fun, whether it’s in the locker room before we do film, whether it’s during the game, the props, all the things. Like some people might watch us and think, this is a circus. This is not a top 25 softball team, but for us, it’s fun,” said Clark.
“I always say, like, when you’re doing something you love, you should be having fun doing it, and it should never feel like a job. It should never feel like a chore. And I never want these girls to show up to the field going, Man, I have to play softball. Instead, it’s, I get to play softball, and I get to do it with my best friends at the place I love, and if they can feel that, you’re going to play a lot better. And so that’s the goal. If they want to be ridiculous, then they get to be ridiculous. And if they want to be serious, then we support that as well. And they kind of know, like, when it’s time, like during the Memphis game, we were winning seven to one, and they kept asking me, Are you mad? I go, why would I be mad? And they’re like, are you mad? I’m like, I’m just quiet. I’m not mad. And so because they know what they’re capable of. They know what the standard is,” Clark said.
The Owls will look to show what they are capable of starting on Friday at 2 PM EST, when they will take on the winner of North Texas and Wichita State, with the game airing on ESPN U.