Hard work, new approach help Burrell grad Elizabeth Clark have breakout season for Edinboro softball

For the past few weeks, Elizabeth Clark has spent the hours between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. instructing a classroom full of young children. It’s one of the requirements as she works toward a degree in early childhood and special education at Edinboro.

When asked what subject she hopes to teach post-college, the Burrell grad said she leans toward math or science. But, strangely enough, Clark said math and science probably are her weakest subjects.

So why the desire to teach them?

“Usually, the best subject is the one you want to teach,” she said. “No, it’s the subjects that are my worst that are the ones I want to teach.

“I’m just a person that I want to get better at everything I do, so if I have something that I’m struggling with, I’m working 10 times harder to make sure I’m not struggling with it. If I teach it, that’s my way of improving it.”

That’s the same approach Clark took to college softball. And after playing sparingly during her first two seasons with the Fighting Scots, the junior decided to work even more diligently to carve out a place in coach Dan Gierlak’s lineup.

After appearing in only 18 games over her first two seasons — 26 at-bats, a .154 batting average, one RBI and zero extra-base hits — Clark has become a regular contributor.

Through April 15, she had appeared in 19 games — making 15 starts — and was hitting .358 (19 for 53) with four doubles, two triples and 13 RBIs. Her on-base percentage of .424 ranked third on the team.

Her best performances came in back-to-back games against IUP at the end of March. Clark was 5 for 8, including a double, with a run and an RBI. The Fighting Scots (9-17, 6-8 PSAC West through April 15) scored an 8-4 win in the first game of the two-game series, with Clark going 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI.

Having an impact on games is a welcome change.

After being a standout at Burrell, Clark struggled with mostly watching from the bench.

“It was definitely a mental adjustment,” she said. “It made me work 10 times harder knowing that I want to play so bad, and the work that I was putting in wasn’t meaning anything. So it was making me work 10 times harder.

“I look back at those first two years, and I know how extremely frustrated I was and upset and all these emotions … this year I was like, I’m giving it my all. I’m giving everything I have in me.”

Gierlak, in his 32nd season coaching Edinboro, said he is happy to see Clark reap the rewards of her diligence.

“She’s always had a really good swing, but she had some holes she had to fix,” Gierlak said. “This kid is in there every day working on tees, working on front toss and has worked extremely hard at getting better and better, whether it’s an outside pitch or an off-speed pitch.

“She has learned to be a little more disciplined. She has learned, when she gets behind in the count, to go with pitches more.”

Gierlak said Clark was too eager and jumpy in the batter’s box early in her college career. She tried to pull every pitch. She tried to hit every pitch as hard as she could.

Now, he said, she has learned to swing inside-out and take the ball to all fields. She is squaring up more pitches and hitting them up the middle.

“She’s a tough out for our pitchers (in practice), let alone other pitchers,” Gierlak said. “It’s been really nice to see.”

Clark said her initial struggles at the plate were as much mental as they were mechanical.

She said she has learned to use intentional breathing — something Gierlak stresses to all of his players — to take the edge off her nerves before stepping into the box. She also reset her thinking to worry less about the outcome and focus more on the joy of playing the game.

“I used to be so timid going into the batter’s box, thinking I would have to perform every single time or I was never going to play again,” she said. “But in reality, this game has mistakes in it. Everybody is human. Mistakes happen.

“I say all the time to my teammates: If you have fun, I promise you you will be successful. … I think about when I was a little kid and how much fun I had with it, and I put my brain back to ‘little Elizabeth.’ ”

As far as her defense goes, Clark admitted she always has been a better hitter than fielder.

But this season, she has handled all 11 of her chances in the outfield cleanly. Gierlak attributes that to Clark learning to anticipate better and get an earlier jump on the ball.

Clark said she also has learned to communicate more efficiently with the other eight players, which helps everyone make the right decisions when a ball is put in play.

Additionally, she has become a team leader, Gierlak said, allowing what he calls her “bubbly personality” to show through.

Maybe too much sometimes. Clark admitted her “teacher voice” often takes over during games, and she has to try to rein it in. But she doesn’t necessarily want to dominate the chatter.

“I’m always the loudest. If you hear screaming, it’s definitely me,” Clark said with a laugh. “I don’t want other people to be afraid to be vocal. Everybody on the team has a voice, and they should share it … and I think that’s really important to a good team dynamic.”

Put it all together, and it equals the breakout season Clark has been hoping to achieve. She has a newfound certainty about her game and looks to keep the momentum going.

“My confidence is just through the roof,” she said. “I know I can do it. … It makes me feel good about myself.

“I was putting so much pressure on myself because I felt I had to be the absolute best. Automatically, if you start to put pressure on yourself, you’re not going to have the outcome you want.”