Former Greyhound champ Kelsi Clark now a winning coach & mother
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
Kelsi Clark has pretty much done it all when it comes to playing softball.
She was a member of Carmel High School’s state championship team back in 2011, when she was Kelsi Jones. Clark then went on to play collegiately at the University of Louisville, and even won a professional championship as part of the Chicago Bandits in 2015.
Now, Kelsi is known as Coach Clark, supervising the Harrison Raiders. This is her third year of coaching at Harrison, and it’s been the most successful yet, as Harrison made its way to the Class 4A state championship game, which the Raiders played on June 11 at Purdue University.
Taking a team to state as a young coach is impressive in itself, but it was even more remarkable because Clark also became a mother right at the beginning of the season. Her son Cooper was born on March 19.
“Towards the end of my pregnancy, we knew we were going to be cutting it close to the beginning of the season,” said Clark. But the timing of Cooper’s birth worked out perfectly, as it took place during Harrison’s Spring Break.
Clark was able to get back to coaching not long after the birth.
“The coaching part seemed easy,” said Clark. “They gave me so much grace and they were patient and understanding, and as a first-time mom, I had no idea what to expect. To even think that I could have a baby and coach their first game 13 days later was probably crazy on my part. But I couldn’t imagine taking the season off. I didn’t want to do that to the girls. I took maternity leave from my real job, but I wasn’t taking maternity leave from coaching.”
Fortunately, Clark had a very supportive network of family, players, team parents, and an accommodating administration with her at all times.
“I don’t know how many moms offered to hold him or walk him around in the stroller,” said Clark. “I never felt a lack of love and support in our little Harrison softball community.”
And Cooper found himself with a new extended family as well. Clark said the Harrison players called him “their little mascot.” He was in the dugout during practice. While it was definitely a crazy season, Clark said she couldn’t imagine going through the season without her newborn.
“All my girls love him and I can’t wait for him to grow up in that team atmosphere and just year in and year out have a bunch of big sisters to love on him,” said Clark. “I’m just really proud to have been able to do that.”
MAGICAL RUN
Having Cooper as their mascot made the Raiders’ season all the more special. Harrison cruised to a 28-2 season in 2022 on its way to the 4A title game. The Raiders beat Avon 7-4 in their season-opener, then fell to Cathedral 5-2 in their second game. Harrison would not lose again until the state championship, racking up 27 consecutive victories.
“It was really exciting, just because we made it further than I think even maybe some of our players expected coming into this season,” said Clark. Obviously, we had a magical run there where we won 27 games in a row.”
The coach said during the season, the Raiders “were on Cloud Nine” and didn’t look at their success as a big long win streak, but instead just took everything one game at a time and one week at a time. When the post-season started, Clark told her players to throw records out the window, “because anybody can beat anybody.”
“We can’t let up at any point,” said Clark. “They really embraced it.”
(Photo provided)
Harrison won the McCutcheon sectional, claiming its fourth straight title by beating Kokomo 5-1 in the semi-finals and Logansport 8-0 in the championship. That sent the Raiders down to Noblesville for the regional game, where Harrison beat the Millers 5-2 to win its first regional since 2013. Clark said her team “just found ways to win.”
“It was a lot of fun watching it all happen, said Clark. “You can get caught up in the day-to-day coaching and not taking it all in. Going into the state championship game, I really wanted to take it in for myself. As a player, I have the memories from our state championship run and I really wanted to have those memories as a coach as well.”
Clark was a senior when Carmel won its 4A state title in 2011, back when the game was at Ben Davis. The Greyhounds beat Avon 1-0 in eight innings. Clark said she used her playing experience “a lot as a coach,” noting that for many of her players, the state championship game that Harrison played in is the biggest game they’ll ever play in. She said that “quieting the outside noise and soaking in the experience” was something that she preached to her girls leading up to the big game.
“It’s been 11 years and I have memories of that game and what came after, but I really wish I would’ve soaked in that week a little more, because it went so fast,” said Clark. “Our fans, our community, our parents really made it special for the girls. They did something special for them every day. That helped them to soak it all in and really make memories that last a lifetime.”
Harrison played Roncalli in the 4A state championship game. The Royals were going for a second consecutive state title and an unbeaten season, and they got it, overwhelming the Raiders 16-0.
Roncalli pitcher Keagan Rothrock has been getting most of the attention for the Royals and continued to prove why she is bound for the University of Florida, striking out 15 while giving up just two hits in the championship game.
“Keagan is tremendous pitcher,” said Clark. “Having played with some of the best pitchers in the world, it takes a lot to really impress me when it comes to pitching, especially from a high school junior. She spun the ball really well. She didn’t have to overpower us. She did enough to move the ball through the zone, we didn’t really have a shot.”
But it was Roncalli’s offense that got everyone’s attention, as the Royals set new state championship records in the three main offensive categories. Roncalli’s 16 runs were a record, and all 16 were RBIs, another record. The Royals got a record 18 hits as well.
“They came out and hit the ball better than any team I saw this season,” said Clark. “When they were hitting the ball, they definitely weren’t missing. Every ball was hit hard. And that’s a statement to them as a hitting team.”
Even with the defeat to Roncalli, it was still an amazing year for Harrison. Clark was named as the coach of the Raiders for the 2020 season, but that year was canceled due to COVID. So, over the past two seasons, Clark has a 49-10 record as the Raiders’ coach.
Clark wants to continue to develop high standards for the Harrison team. The Raiders have won 20 sectional titles overall, but only seven regional titles.
“To be able to move on to regionals and to be able to compete in regionals are totally different things,” said Clark. “We’ve won our sectional four consecutive seasons, four sectional championships, but not much to show for it. I was really just laying the groundwork for the kind of program that I wanted to have, and that was one that expected championships.”
Clark said she doesn’t think a program can be successful if it is setting the bar at a sectional championship being enough. “We do things a little bit differently,” she said, and that seems to be carrying over to her players.
“For the first time, they were going through practice with a championship mentality,” said Clark. “We weren’t accepting mediocrity. We were doing things the right way.”
That includes everything Clark has learned throughout her career – as a high school, college and pro player. “It would be silly to not use that experience,” she said.
And that experience is making things fun and exciting for Harrison, both for players and some veteran coaches alike, including one of Clark’s volunteer assistant coaches, 78-year-old Frank Knox – “this season was the best time of his life,” said Clark.