The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Connie Clark’s fall ball message has kept Softball's eyes on the prize
05.15.2014 | Softball
Coach's use of a simple African proverb set the table for the 2014 season.
At the beginning of the fall season, head coach Connie Clark used one simple African proverb to settle down the veterans, but primarily to set the table for the upcoming year:
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
After reaching the national semifinals and coming so close to the team's first national title just months earlier, all that the six upperclassmen wanted to do was get to Oklahoma City and the Women's College World Series and to get there as fast as possible.
"We wanted to go back and wanted everything to be perfect," senior catcher Mandy Ogle said.
But Clark knew that in order for 2014 to be successful, this new team, including the seven rookies, would need to brand a fresh image for the ensuing spring.
"[The quote] stemmed from the anxiousness the upperclassmen presented," Clark said. "I loved their anxiousness in a sense that they really wanted to bring the newcomers up to speed quickly, but that was really why I said it. I really felt we had to talk to the returners about no matter how hard it is going to be at times, to be patient and to slow things down. These rookies need to make some mistakes and be able to take some lumps. We've got to grow together and help them grow through it."
Clark emphasized that the growing pains of the coming season would be natural and that the only way to get better was to go together as one team and not 19 individuals.
After an up and down first 24 games, Texas' biggest challenge of the season would come at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. There they would face three teams from 2013's WCWS, all of which were currently in the Top 10 in the nation. The Longhorns would come away from the weekend with a disappointing 1-4 mark, dropping all three contests to the highly ranked foes.
"Coming into this season, we knew we were young," senior shortstop Taylor Thom said. "We knew it was going to start off a little rocky. We've been focusing on not necessarily starting fast, but just learning from each loss and each mistake, getting better throughout the season and ending fast."
The mentality stuck with the team and with Coach Clark's quote for the season in mind. Texas felt it could turn it around by focusing on the critical conference games of the season.
The four seniors prevailed when it counted, bookending a 12-6 Big 12 mark with signature wins over a nationally-ranked Baylor squad. In the opener on March 22, Mandy Ogle broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run bomb to lead Texas to a 4-1 win and in the final game of the regular season, seniors Brejae Washington and Thom put together a seventh inning for the ages to walk off, 3-2, in victorious fashion on Senior Day.
From 14-13 through the first 27 games to 19-8 over the last 27 games, the Longhorns are peaking when they need to and hoping to carry momentum into this weekend's NCAA Regional in Lafayette, La.
"It doesn't feel like it's Regional time already and I think that's a good sign," Clark said. "We keep having to get better with each game. We don't have a veteran battery that you have to taper and make sure they're as fresh as they can be [for the postseason]. It's more about, 'Hey, we have to keep getting better and better,' and I love that we've been able to do that."
Individually, several Longhorn players flourished during the second half of the season to propel Texas. Freshman Devon Tunning rebounded from a .197 batting average through 33 games to make All-Big 12 Second Team, escalating in the lineup from eighth to cleanup in just a few weeks.
Thom, who was named an NFCA Third-Team All-American in 2013, experienced similar early season struggles.
"I was putting a lot of pressure on myself at the beginning of the season," Thom said. "It took me awhile to realize that I have nine other teammates in the lineup and I just had to relax and not put that pressure on myself. In the Big 12, they put me back in the three-hole, I was a little bit more relaxed and just enjoying my last games here at McCombs [Field]."
The senior shortstop found her groove in conference play, hitting .417 with a .726 slugging percentage. On Tuesday, Thom was named Big 12 Player of the Year by the conference coaches, along with being selected to the All-Big 12 First Team and to the league's All-Defensive Team.
In total, the Longhorns placed five on all-conference squads, including freshman pitcher Tiarra Davis, who was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. The rookie went 18-12 in her debut season with an impressive 2.35 ERA.
Coach Clark's early year quote foreshadowed a regular season full of unpredictability, but ultimately ended with a confident team that as one, is continuing to grow as the stakes get bigger.
"This team has an ever-growing identity," Clark said. "I really think we were a little soft early in the season and we had to learn how to toughen up a little bit mentally. I really have seen several individuals and the team take on that identity that they are tough and can work through situations. Hopefully that will bode well for us with that mentality as we hit the road."
Texas opens NCAA Regional play on Friday at 3:00 p.m. CT when it takes on Mississippi State at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La. All games at the Lafayette Regional will be webstreamed by ESPN3.
