Maybe it’s the Midwestern work ethic.Or maybe it’s the example set by her father, John Clark, who raised his two softball-playing daughters on his own and has several times driven all-nighters from Florida weekend tournaments back to Ohio so he could get his children home in time for school Monday morning.

Whatever it is, 2018 pitcher/outfielder and middle infielder Christina “Tina” Clark for the Ohio Outlaws 16U club team is not one to worry about the small stuff—even if it’s a painful injury.Take last year, for example.Tina suffered a significant compound dislocation of a finger on her pitching hand that could have knocked her out for weeks, if not months. Not only did she have to be talked out of pitching the next day, she ended up going to the Central Florida camp shortly thereafter and pitching like nothing happened.“Tina Clark is truly as tough of a kid as I have ever been around,” says Warren Wolff, the President and Recruiting Director of the Ohio Outlaws. “ She can do it all.  When she injured her finger it was a bloody, nasty thing, but Tina just wanted to tape it up and go back in. And then she goes and competes at UCF’s camp the next weekend.”She’s not only tough, the 5-foot-7 freshman from Avon, Ohio is also a promising prospect and may be the best all-around player in the 2018 class for the Outlaws according to Coach Wolff.High praise from an organization which already has three players committed to schools like Penn State and Pitt.

Tina is being looked at by schools ranging from UCF to Penn State and Tennessee in large part because of her versatility. She compiled a 0.52 ERA in the circle last summer and struck out 213 batters while hitting .452 herself with a .783 slugging percentage.A year ago as an eighth grader the Buckeye State athlete pitched a perfect game in high school and last summer threw three no-hitters for the Outlaws.“Tina’s heart, desire, athleticism and drive is unmatched by most players, “Wolff continues. “This kid will run through a brick wall to help her team win and what a contagious personality she has!”“Someone is going to get very lucky with this young lady,” the Outlaws headman explains. “Tina can help in so many ways – pitching, in centerfield and even at middle infielder – and I’m not sure there isn’t a position she could or has not played.”It hasn’t been easy though.The softball field has become a refuge for Tina from the struggles she, her father and older sister Cyd have faced at home. [premium-content]

The siblings’ mother left the family when Tina was 16 months old and her parents divorced before she was two years old.Her father remarried the next year, but that ended up in divorce within a year so the family moved back to Northeast Ohio shortly before Tina started in Kindergarten.However, the difficulties continued.“We were homeless under HUD’s definition,” John Clark says, “and so we lived with my parents in Marshallville for about two months while I took both girls back to school in Avon, about an hour drive daily.”Looking back to those years, Tina says she was aware how stressful it was for the three of them.“There were some hard times,” she admits. “There was a time when we thought we would lose our house because we couldn’t pay the bills. But my family got through it and got back on track.”

“Sure, we had to cut things out like going out to eat or going to Cedar Point (amusement park),” the freshman continues, “but those aren’t needed things in our lives. There are some times when we have to make more cuts so we can keep up and bills and taxes, but we get through those with faith.”The girls’ father received a paying internship while going to college and received his Associate Degree in Accounting the next summer, but by the time Tina was 8, her father had to drop out of school with five classes left before getting his Bachelor’s Degree.“Both Cyd and Tina’s softball started to take more of my time and their grades were starting to drop.”When Tina was 9, she started playing travel ball and her father kept his promise that, if the sisters worked hard, he would do whatever it would take to help them achieve their softball dreams.”“I did rob Peter to pay Paul in order for her to play travel,” John Clark admits. “Thanks to God and some great people, I still have my house and the girls get to do what they’ve enjoyed.”The last time the girls heard from their mother was when Tina was 10 years old. She is philosophical about not having a mom in her life.

“I don’t feel lost, she says, “because my Dad plays both roles for me, mom and dad. I can talk to him about anything—friends, boys, school, etc. He also pushes me to make the right decisions in life. I’ve gotten really close with my dad; we’ve developed a great relationship through everything.”In typical Tina toughness, she says the only negative to not having her mother around is financial.“We don’t receive child support from our mom so it makes things hard with money.”Today, Cyd is at Ashland University going to school full-time and working up to 30 hours per week to pay off the balance of her school costs which weren’t covered by an academic scholarship, student loans and financial aid.Tina feels her older sister has been invaluable in her life, both on and off the field.“My sister has helped so much,” the Outlaw star says. “When something is wrong, she can definitely tell and she’ll help me get through it. I’m so happy that we don’t fight and that we’re so close!”Tina, says her father, “is playing for one of the best organizations in the country and for one of the best teams.”“I’ve always told them,” John Clark concludes, “you can be a victim or make the best of it and play with the cards dealt. I think both girls took that as their motto and it’s why Tina believes she can achieve her dreams playing at a high level. They both have lived it.”[/premium-content]