SILER CITY — In 2014, Jordan-Matthews was one win away from the school’s first-ever softball state championship.
The Jets — in the midst of a 23-4 season (10-0 in the Mid-State 2A Conference) — forced Game 3 against East Rutherford by overcoming a 3-0 deficit in Game 2 to earn a close win, 4-3, tying the series at one game apiece.
In the tournament’s finale, played in Raleigh, just three hours after Game 2’s conclusion, the Cavaliers captured the 2A state title in a nine-inning affair, 4-2, ending hopes of a miraculous J-M comeback and leaving the Jets’ trophy case a little emptier than it could have been.
Holly Clark, a sophomore on that 2014 team, still remembers the heartbreak of losing that series seven years later.
“I don’t remember how many innings we played (during that series), I think we had a doubleheader one day where we played seven innings one game and the next game went nine … I have never in my life been that tired,” Clark said. “We got really close to winning the state championship, a few times, actually, and as soon as I left J-M, I was like, ‘I’m coming back.’”
Now, Clark has a shot at redemption.
In early July, just a couple of short months after finishing her career at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, Clark was officially hired as the Jets’ newest head softball coach, taking over for former head coach Rick Willoughby, who opted not to return for the upcoming season.
During her high school career, from 2012 to 2016, the Jets knocked on the title’s door nearly every season, but could never get over the hump.
Over the final three seasons of her tenure, the Jets were a combined 73-9 with losses in the state championship (2014), Sweet 16 (2015) and Elite Eight (2016). Few teams were as consistent as they were.
Clark was a three-time all-conference, all-district and all-state pitcher who was one of the top leaders on the squad.
“We have some unfinished business,” Clark said. “What I’ve spoken into existence five years ago is exactly where I am now. It literally gives me chills. … That’s why it’s so exciting, because I feel like I was meant to be in this position.”
After graduating from J-M in 2016, Clark went on to pitch for the Buccaneers at CSU, where she posted a 28-33 record over five seasons in Charleston — including an extra year of eligibility she received due to the COVID-19 pandemic cutting the 2020 season short.
In what may come as a surprise, those five years also came with plenty of turmoil at the head coaching position for CSU, with Clark having three different head coaches during her college career. In a way, though, she liked it.
“Looking back, I got to learn three different (coaching) styles, three different ways to do things,” Clark said. “So just having the experience of a bigger number of coaches, which some people would not want at a Division I school, I used it to my advantage because I learned a lot as a player and coach, especially this last year, when I started really paying attention to the coaching side of it.”
Clark takes over the J-M job without any formal coaching experience under her belt, but says she learned a lot during her time as a student-athlete at a Division I program and is excited to implement some of her own ideas, even if she hasn’t yet figured out her true coaching style.
She’s sure to have a tall task on her hands, too.
Since she graduated in 2016, the Jets haven’t quite had the same luster.
In 2017, J-M made it to the Elite Eight in a 19-7 season, but lost to Eastern Randolph, 12-4, to end the year.
The following four seasons — including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season where the Jets were 1-3 at the stopping point — the team went a combined 26-34 with just one trip to the playoffs (a first-round exit in 2018).
Clark said she recognizes the drop in expectations for the team over the last few seasons and that her goal is to get J-M back to form with hopes that it’ll get the school — and town — excited about softball again.
“For months now, I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to say to (the players) because I know I’m young and I know it’s my first year out of college, but I don’t doubt myself,” Clark said. “It’s just going to have to be a culture shift … trying to figure out a good balance between having higher expectations, but having a blast while we’re doing it.”
While the softball season won’t begin until February, she’s planning to host workouts later this fall in an attempt to get her team ready and drum up interest in the program.
And as a self-proclaimed “hometown girl,” Clark’s just excited to get the ball rolling.
“The opportunity, the timing was just perfect,” Clark said. “I’m really excited to be back on campus and work there (as a physical education teacher), then being the softball coach is a big bonus for me. I have no idea what challenges will be thrown my way, but that’s part of the excitement. I will always accept the challenge.”
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.