Connie Sue Clark (born December 20, 1965) is an American, former collegiate All-American right-handed

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and head coach. Clark began her college softball career at the junior college level before finishing her last two years with the

Cal State Fullerton Titans The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton. The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big West Co ...

from 1986–87 and leading them to the 1986

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

championship title. She is the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

career leader in

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and WHIP for her two seasons, she also ranks top-10 for those records for both the Titans and the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

. Clark was named the inaugural head coach of the

Texas Longhorns softball The Texas Longhorns softball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate softball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference. The University of Texas began varsity intercolleg ...

program, a position she held from 1997 to 2018. Along the way she was mentor to athletes Christa Williams,

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player. Osterman pitched on the United States women's national softball team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 2008 and 2020 Su ...

and

Blaire Luna Blaire Luna (born 1990) is an American, former collegiate All-American, right-handed pro softball pitcher, originally from Austin, Texas. She attended Bowie High School in Austin, Texas. She later attended the University of Texas at Austin, wher ...

and coached teams to a first No. 1 softball ranking, five college World Series and three national semifinal finishes. Clark was also a head coach for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Early life and education

Clark was born and raised in Glendale, Arizona and graduated from

Greenway High School Greenway High School is a public secondary school located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a part of the Glendale Union High School District. It was named after John Campbell Greenway, a mining engineer and United States Senator. In the 1994–95 and ...

in nearby

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in 1983. At Central Arizona Junior College, Clark pitched on the softball team under head coach

Mike Candrea John Michael Candrea (born August 29, 1955) is the former head softball coach at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He was the head coach of the United States women's national softball team in 2004, when Team USA won a gold medal, and ...

and led the team to

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

titles in 1984 and 1985.

California State Fullerton

Transferring to

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, Clark had a 20–2 record and nation-best 0.18 ERA leading the Titans to the 1986 Women's College World Series title. She earned First Team All-Big West honors. At the World Series, Clark pitched three shutouts and surrendered just one hit and struck out 8 in the title game to defeat the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

3-0 on May 25. She was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts. As a senior in 1987, Clark went 33–5. She won the Broderick Award (now the Honda Sports Award) as the nation's top softball player in 1987. She earned First Team All-American recognition from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and another conference honor. Clark and the Titans returned to the World Series to defend their title but eventually lost the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

on May 23. Clark tossed 6 innings and struck out 4 in her final appearance. After graduating from Cal State Fullerton, Clark pitched for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

in 1987.

Coaching career

From 1990 to 1995, Clark was an assistant coach at Florida State University. She became the inaugural head softball coach at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

in June 1995, leading the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

from 1997 to 2018 with a cumulative 873–401–3 record, four

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

regular season titles, four

Big 12 Conference softball tournament The Big 12 softball tournament (sometimes known simply as the Big 12 championship) is the conference championship tournament in college softball for the Big 12 Conference (Big 12). Since its inception in 1996, the tournament has been played at AS ...

titles, and 19 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including five in the

Statistics

Cal State Fullerton Titans The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton. The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big West Co ...

Head Coaching Record

Sources:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Connie 1965 births Living people Female sports coaches American softball coaches Softball coaches from Arizona Cal State Fullerton Titans softball players Florida State Seminoles softball coaches Texas Longhorns softball coaches Central Arizona Vaqueros softball players Sportspeople from Glendale, Arizona Softball players from Arizona