PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ Taylar Clark was having a hard time deciding whether she wanted to play soccer or softball in college.
A member of both the Roughrider softball and soccer squads, Clark had a scholarship offer on the table to play one of the sports at Hesston College, a small (enrollment 400) Mennonite school in Hesston, Kan.
“I met the [softball] coach and loved the coach and team,” she said.
Clark, the daughter of Tasha and Dustin Clark, wasn’t sure she wanted to take the offer because she also wanted to keep playing soccer. She was strongly considering attending Washington State and simply trying to walk on to the Cougars’ soccer team.
But, the softball and soccer coaches at Hesston started talking to each other and Clark was eventually offered something rare — scholarships to play both soccer and softball at the Kansas school, solving her dilemma.
“It’s been a cool experience so far,” she said.
“It’s pretty exciting. We realize how rare it is to be be in her position and we’ve told her how special she is and amazing it is,” said her mother, Tasha.
As far as a favorite sport? It’s close for Clark.
“They’re pretty neck and neck. I think softball barely tops soccer,” she said.
Hesston College is located in a small town fairly isolated in the middle of Kansas. Clark said she isn’t too worried about getting homesick because her family moved to Port Angeles from Overland Park, Kan., and she still has family and friends there about two hours away.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
