By Shruthi Lakshmanan
San Jose State’s
softball team may not have a captain, but the players have found guidance from a veteran teammate.
Infielder Cassidy Clark, a health science senior, is finishing her last season as a Spartan while and is looking to leave behind a legacy.
After Clark helped many of her teammates succeed, they complimented her for her relentlessness. However, this
dedication originally stemmed from emulating her
older sister.
“My older sister played softball competitively and I just wanted to be like her,” Clark said. “I didn’t really care about the sport at the time when I was young. I just loved watching her. I wanted to do what she was doing.”
She played softball in high school with her sister, Madison Clark. Her sister Madison went on to play for California State University, Bakersfield.
SJSU head coach Peter Turner recruited Cassidy Clark in April of 2016 during her senior year of high school, a time considered late for incoming collegiate athletes.
California State University, Long Beach seemed to be where Clark would start her collegiate softball career, until her financial benefits were taken away. This left Clark looking for a new school.
At 5 foot, 4 inches tall, Clark said many coaches overlooked her in search of players with a larger body composition for hitting and running, but Turner told her that talent is more important than size.
“We were talking about my size. That’s a huge thing with college coaches, they don’t want 5-[foot]-2 [inch] girls,” Clark said. “So, that was like [a] huge thing that we talked about. He [was] like, ‘I don’t care how big you are, I don’t care how tiny you are, if you’re gonna perform, you’ll fly’.”
Clark is also known as the “golden child” of the SJSU women’s softball team because she rarely makes mistakes and leads by example, Turner said.
“She is the most solid player I have,” Turner said. “More importantly, she is a solid individual and as good a human being that I’ve ever coached.”
Clark, recalling her journey starting from freshman year, mentions that one of her major influences is her former teammate Emma Entzminger.
“[Entzminger] really took me under her wing and was, like, helping me out and kind of teaching me how to lead because she was in her last year,” Clark said.
Clark was able to cultivate her leadership abilities during her freshman year, allowing her to step into an influential role by her sophomore year.
Sophomore pitcher Jenessa Ullegue describes Clark as an encouraging mentor who is always nurturing the team. She credits Clark’s encouraging demeanor to four years of experience.
“[Clark] knows what it takes to go from the bottom to the top,” Ullegue said.
Other players also acknowledged Clark’s abilities as a positive influence who brings enthusiasm to the field.
Junior pitcher Caroline Bowman has played with Clark for the last three years. She finds Clark’s presence on the field to be tranquil, furthering her own confidence while playing.
“Having [Clark] at second base is really calming to me when I’m pitching,” Bowman said.
She’s always talking to me, always encouraging me. She’s always there. She leads a team really well.”
Clark said she is working with the newer members to preserve the team’s culture and hopes to instill mentorship skills by taking them under her wing like Entzminger did for her.
Sophomore infielder Alyssa Graham said she finds Clark’s demeanor to be supportive and charitable.
“I had [Clark] as my mentor last year and honestly, she’s the best person to have as a mentor,” Graham said. “You can go to her about anything. Softball. School. She really has the best answers and she’s not going to ever judge you or anything like that.”
Clark’s academic abilities are not only recognized by her team, but also by the Mountain West Conference.
Aside from being awarded the Mountain West Softball All-Conference First Team in 2017 and 2018, Clark was also honored with the Academic All-Mountain West award from 2017-2019.
Clark attributes her awards to coach Turner and her team’s culture, both of which enforce academic success.
“You’ll see us in the airport doing homework before the flights [and] when we get there. Like, we are a very dedicated team,” said Clark. “So we kind of hold each other accountable just from, like, our actions.”
Clark plans to graduate this year and pursue nursing afterward. She said that her professional interests were influenced by her father, a fire captain with previous experience as an emergency medical technician.
“I was just so inspired by what he did. Obviously, I didn’t really know what it was when I was younger. I kind of just heard a few stories,” Clark said. “It was awesome. I wanted to go and I wanted to help people every single day.”
Although Clark envisions herself providing medical assistance like her dad, she also sees herself in a different setting.
“I would rather be like [in the] emergency department. That way I can help instead of going out,” Clark said.
