Florida Atlantic softball’s season came to a close on Saturday after back to back losses to Florida and Mercer in the second round of the Gainesville regional.
The Owls came out of the gates rolling, taking a 2 run lead against Florida in the first inning of game one behind a steal of home from Kylie Hammonds and RBI single from Bella Cimino, however things began to turn downhill from there. Despite later home-runs from Cimino and Chloe Yeatts, Florida found a way to strike for 14 runs on the day, ultimately run-ruling FAU 14-6 in 5 innings and sending the Owls to the loser bracket where they would face off against Mercer.
Although FAU struck for 6 runs against Florida, the bats went quiet against Mercer, stranding 14 runners on base throughout the game. While the Owls bats went quiet, the Bears bats exploded, taking a 2-0 lead after the first and never looking back, chasing Autumn Courtney after the 5th inning and going on to defeat the Owls 7-0, ending their season on Saturday in Gainesville for the second season in a row.
The Owls were plagued by inconsistent hitting and errors defensively, two things that normally didn’t hurt them this season and according to FAU Head Coach Jordan Clark, the Owls youth showed in the Gainesville regional.
“I kept saying all year long, like, at some point our youth is going to show up. And, you know, we played with ultimately one senior that went in consistently this year, and we had a lot of freshmen, a lot of sophomores doing some really cool things this whole year for us. And so it was a matter of time before the moments got big and the pressure. We’re still a program and we’re figuring it out, and it’s not from a lack of effort, it’s almost we want it so bad, and we tried to make things a little harder than what they were. Am I disappointed? Yes, because, you know, that’s not who we are, and you know that’s got to be the taste in their mouth that they got to go on summer break with and they got to sit with, and you hope it motivates them. But yeah, our youth showed up a little bit this weekend,” Clark said.
It’s a tough way for the season to end following a 45-12 season which was the Owl’s best campaign since 2016, however the foundation has been set after back to back postseason appearances for Jordan Clark and her squad.
After departing 8 starters via graduation a season ago, the Owls didn’t skip a beat during the regular season, getting contributions from freshman and transfer portal pieces a like and despite that not translating to the postseason fully, they gained valuable experience that can be translated to next year.
The seniors on this current team however played a valuable role just like the 8 seniors who departed last year, including lights out closer Ainsley Lambert and mainstay in the rotation Gabby Sacco and according to Clark, their contributions were invaluable.
“It’s a group of four, and, you know, you’ve got three pitchers in that group, and you’ve got a position player, and I’m so thankful for them for choosing FAU. I’m thankful for them for sticking through the good times and the bad times. And, you know, they’re four awesome people, and they are going to be successful in whatever they choose to do. And I can’t wait to watch from afar. The sky’s the limit for what you get to accomplish. And we hope that a couple of them we’ve coached for three years a couple two years. We hope that we built a foundation and we impacted them enough that they’re going to take some things that we taught them and that at the end of the day nobody’s going to ask your era nobody’s going to ask your batting average. I don’t remember mine and so at the end of the day, it’s, what did you learn? The people that you know, the people that you met, and you know, how are you going to use that and be the best version of yourself in life. And I hope those four seniors did that. And I hope one day all the crazy things that I said to them and put them through, they’re like, Okay, I see it and I get it now,” Clark said.
Now the offseason for FAU softball begins and last year the Owls dominated the offseason, retaining all eligible players while also bringing in multiple contributors, both freshman and through the transfer portal. There are no guarantees that they will be able to do all of that again, however Clark and her staff are going to go to work and don’t be surprised if the Owls are making noise next year once again.
No matter what happens in the portal and offseason, Coach Clark believes a foundation has been set in Boca Raton and with some hard work, the future will continue to be bright.
“I think it’s everything, you cross your fingers and you hope that you get to keep the youth right in today’s world. You just never know what the next year is going to look like. I hope that we’ve built a culture and we hope that they want to stay and they want to continue growing and building this thing and see the beauty and in making something better than where we found it. So the sky is the limit for this group, and that’s something and a reason why I love it so much. And like I truly believe, we’ve put together such a really good group of freshmen, a good group of recruits coming in, and our transfers having more than one year that will get them again. I’m happy, I’m hopeful, I’m disappointed, but I’m also just so dang proud of what the last year has meant, and to do it after a really good year last year, to follow it back up and to even accomplish more. That’s pretty special,” Clark said.
