Not Your Typical Mid Major
FAU Owls: Built for Hard Things
If you think of FAU as a mid major softball school, technically you are correct, but they don’t think that way and neither does Head Coach Jordan Clark. The Owls don’t shy away from any “Power 4” competition, and they have shown that in the past and will again this coming season.
Last season the Owls finished with an American Athletic Conference regular season championship and earned a berth in the NCAA Gainesville Regional. After it was all said and done, FAU’s final record stood at 45-12.
Now, into the 2025-26 year, they are back with most of their returning production and a host of newcomers. This team looks strong and ready to build off last year’s success. When talking about the underdog mentality, Coach Clark made it clear how her team thinks.
“Our girls don’t believe they’re the underdog at times. So they are excited about the schedule and the Clearwater schedule got released and half the country’s like, what are you thinking? And my kids are over here like, let’s freaking go,” Clark said.
That mindset is paired with a new message, “What can we do that we haven’t done?” Coming off two consecutive regular season AAC championships, FAU has yet to win the conference tournament or a regional.
“So I truly believe winning a regular season title is way harder than winning the conference tournament because you know, at the end of your season, you could have injuries, you could have fatigue, you know, you’re just trying to ultimately, if you get the double bye, you’re trying to win two games to win the championship,” said Clark.
Last season the Owls went 23-4 in conference play. That is hard to do anywhere, especially with the competition they faced. Their resume was strong enough for an at large bid, but as Clark pointed out, that is not a position any program wants to leave in the hands of a committee.
“So with the tournament, that’s something we’ve really been talking about is how can we be present for those two games at the end of season to be our best? It’s something we’ve talked about. It’s something the girls are hungry for. We don’t know how it’s gonna play out, but it’s definitely something that we would like to accomplish.”
FAU returns a hungry roster from last year. They had some departures, but nothing about this roster says rebuild. It looks reloaded.
That starts with NFCA All American and AAC Pitcher of the Year Autumn Courtney. Courtney finished 24-4 with 172 strikeouts across 165.2 innings pitched and held opponents to a .164 average.
The Owls also return Ainsley Lambert, a second team All AAC selection who went 7-1 with 11 saves and a .92 WHIP. Do not forget Jaden Martinez either, who struck out 10 in her first start of the season against Clemson and tossed a perfect game against Tulsa.
“I mean, what a dream come true that you return, you know, an all American, first team all conference, you return a second team all conference, and you return somebody that threw a perfect game last year. Then on top of that, you added, you know, Madison Inscoe, who was a number one at her school when she was healthy. So, you know, I truly believe you’re the deepest we’ve ever been in the circle,” Clark said.
With great experience and expectations comes pressure, but Clark and pitching coach Nicole Newman have done a great job stacking the circle with depth and versatility. They are seven deep, mixing proven arms with freshmen who are already showing growth. (Ashlynn Durkin, Makenna Lee, and Madison Byrd)
“We are seven deep in the circle and I know that sounds like a crazy number, but we added three freshmen that I truly believe can play. You know, watching them in the fall, I’m like, hmm, okay, like we’ve got to find a way to get them on the field and get them experience,” said Clark.
This freshman class as a whole are already showing maturity and buy in. They know the high competition and experience there in Boca Raton within the roster.
“You walk into a team that’s won back to back championships and only has one open position, that’s hard,” Clark said. “They’ve handled it well. Back to the freshmen pitchers, they have really went all in on getting them ready.
The weight room has worked wonders on them. This fall, we also did something really cool with the pitchers by getting them involved in Pilates to focus on core strength and stability. We even do paddleboard yoga in the pool. We like to challenge them both mentally and physically in different ways,” said Clark.
The strategic thinking of not only this coming season, but thinking ahead, is why I believe the Owls have a successful program. It also helps with retention in this day and age of the transfer portal.
“If we only focus on our four seniors, what’s next year gonna look like? So it’s being really strategic, and I think that’s the thing you’re gonna see with us this year is what duo is the best together, right? Who’s gonna start it? Who’s gonna close it? Ainsley’s arguably one of the best closers in the entire country,” she said.
Newman has indeed done a great job with the staff. FAU was among the nation’s best last year in ERA and strikeouts, and at the top of the AAC in multiple pitching categories. The wealth of arms will be a major advantage in 2026.
Behind them, the Owls have plenty of depth defensively too. With Kiley Channell now at Clemson, shortstop is the main position battle heading into spring. However, they train everyone to play any position in field. Versatility and depth is a strong suit with this team.
“We probably have about five people competing for it right now, which is kind of crazy. But it’s also really cool. So the way that we do it in the fall is that you truly learn how to play all the infield positions,” she said.
Coach Clark explained in detail why, “You never know with injury, and you never know based on who’s pitching where most of the balls are going or who we want where. We did have transfers, McKenna Mulholland from Ball State and Hannah Rivers from Mercer, and those two are adding really good depth there. That’s probably going to end up being an offensive battle.”
Mulholland started all 51 games at Ball State last season, recording 10 doubles that fit right into the FAU offensive philosophy. In 102 career starts, she has been utilized at shortstop, second base, and right field, with 59 of those starts coming at shortstop.
Rivers was a .316 hitter last season as a freshman at Mercer. She also recorded five home runs with 35 RBIs and seven doubles. Rivers moved around the infield as well, playing second and shortstop.
“You also have a freshman in Sarah Harris, who we originally recruited to play second base for us, and Destiny Johns just played an amazing second base last year. Destiny was actually recruited as a shortstop for us, so we have that card in our pocket if we want to play it.”
The Owls led the AAC in fielding percentage last season with .983 percent. It seems that they led the AAC in a lot of things, and had the least amount of errors with 24 total on the season.
Offensively, FAU does not rely a bunch on the long ball to win games. They thrive on execution and gap power. The Owls finished at the top of the conference in doubles with 95 and found ways to score without the typical home run heavy approach you see in other places.
In 2025, no player on the roster had double digit homers. That seems a bit unusual for the game, but the location of their home park plays a big part in that. Their park plays big due to location, and they have learned to use it to their advantage.
“When I first got here, I thought I’d fix that,” Clark said when speaking on home run numbers. “Then once you play here, you realize how tough it is. We’re about a mile and a half from the beach, and the wind blows hard out to right field. It’s tough for righties to hit it out, so we’ve learned to play to it. Our lefties hit most of the home runs here, but we lead the league in doubles. That’s who we are.”
The returning offensive production is definitely there. Jesiana Mora, Kylie Hammonds, Bella Foran, Chloe Yeatts, and Kiley Shelton are all back, each hitting well over .300 last season with plenty of doubles. Mora led the Owls with eight home runs, 68 hits, and 108 total bases, and stole 18 bases in 19 attempts. Hammonds was a fixture in the leadoff spot, and posted a 1.066 OPS.
FAU will not be easing into 2026 either. They will host tough opening weekends with matchups against programs like Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Kansas, with Clearwater in the middle to face some of the best in the country.
“We like hard things in our program. If you want to be the best, you got to compete with the best,” she said. “We’ve got to find ways to sneak a couple games out. Those games they don’t hurt you, they only help you. We get to learn what we’re made of.”
