By Rick Teverbaugh
The Herald Bulletin
FRANKTON, Ind. —
It was a season of haves and have nots for Frankton’s Karli Clark.
What she did have was a healthy season. What she did have was confidence and a spectacular junior season. It was special enough to earn her The Herald Bulletin softball Pitcher of the Year honor for 2010.
“I was really surprised when I found out,” said Clark. “I thought someone else might win it.”
Clark post a 13-4 record with a 0.99 ERA. In 106 innings she struck out 133 hitters and allowed only 61 hits.
“This is a big honor for her,” said Frankton coach Jeremy Parker. “This was her first full year of pitching. She is difficult to hit against. She does throw hard but she doesn’t always throw it exactly where she wants. That makes it tough on hitters.”
In an effort to hone her craft, Clark played a lot of summer softball. It took a toll on her.
“She would sometimes pitch four or five games in a weekend,” said Parker.
“I used to play travel ball all of the time,” said Clark. “It messed up my shoulder.” As a result she had to come out of the semistate game when the Eagles were one win from playing for the state championship.
So she isn’t going to repeat that mistake this summer. “I’m just going to play the high school games,” said Clark.
Clark also had a great season at the plate, hitting .540 with 10 home runs and 56 RBIs. “She definitely put up the best offensive numbers for a pitcher that we’ve had,” said Parker. “She was in the top 10 in the state in home runs and hits.”
As she moves toward her senior season, she knows she has some goals for things to improve.
“I had to work on my change-up and my rise ball,” said Clark. “Right now there isn’t enough difference in speed between my fastball and my change.”
So the Eagles will move forward trying to get a couple of games further in 2011.
“We lost six seniors so I know I’ll have to step it up a little bit more,” said Clark. “But I hope we can do better than we did this year.”
“We definitely lost some pieces,” said Parker. “But we have some people back and we have some people I think can fill those spots.”
