CLAVELLE: Has led Marysville in hits all three of her varsity seasons
Those résumé numbers are part of the reason Clavelle is the Appeal-Democrat All-Area Player of the Year for the 2017 season. She’s not only the second straight Marysville player to gain the honor, she’s the second straight member of her household. Last year, the award went to Cassidy Clavelle, now at Holy Names University in Oakland.
Cassidy earned her POY award a year ago as much for her work in the circle as her hitting; she was Marysville’s primary pitcher as a senior. Hannah does a little pitching too, enough to finish with a 3-0 record and a 1.33 earned-run average for the Indians this season. But she pitched mostly in relief, working just 21 innings total in seven appearances.
If Hannah has a secondary skill that helps make her stand out, it’s a skill probably best categorized as an intangible.
“The best thing about Hannah is her leadership, the way she is constantly talking on the field and always trying to keep the team up,” said Maurice Clavelle, Hannah’s father and Marysville’s head coach for the past nine seasons.
“I mean, of course, the way she plays – she hits and everything. But she doesn’t just show up at the game. She does it in practice, so she commands the other girls on the team to do the same thing.”
Hannah’s leadership qualities help her quite a bit in her other extracurricular activity – cheerleading. In fact, there’s plenty of crossover between the sports, considering the big role organized dugout cheers have for some softball teams.
Whatever the venue, Hannah puts her all into cheering. “I’m the loudest one out there all the time,” she said.
But cheering of the organized kind for her is just for fun.
Her softball career? That’s serious business.
Predictably, Hannah began playing T-ball at age 5 and stuck with the sport in part because it was the family thing to do. “A lot of my best memories are when I was like 7. I played with all the 10-year-olds,” she said. “They were like my older sisters. I loved that. I always played up.”
It was around that time that Hannah’s goals became etched in stone.
“Softball for her has never been just fun. She’s always wanted to play college softball,” Maurice said. “Since she was 7 years old playing on her sister Cassidy’s team, travel ball. And starting at second base, leadoff batter. That’s all she’s ever wanted to do.”
At Marysville, Hannah has been a key member of the varsity since she walked on campus. She batted .429 in 21 games as a freshman, .422 in 27 games as a sophomore. She’s led the Indians in hits in each of her three seasons. The only year she didn’t top them in batting average was her first year, and then she was topped by then-junior Ashley Adamson by a mere four points.
This spring, Hannah struck out just twice all season for the Golden Empire League champions and produced one big offensive moment after another. One of the biggest came in the Indians’ 7-2 playoff win over Union Mine, when she ripped University of Pacific-bound pitcher Beth Hammer’s first offering of the game over the fence in right cen- ter for a home run.
“This year was by far my best year,” she said. “(It) was my most consistent hitting. I put a lot of extra work in ... going and hitting by myself, being mentally prepared, knowing that I’m leading that team so I have to stay in the game mentally. If I pop out or strike out, I can’t get down on myself. I have to be that leader for the other girls.”
As for her approach against pitchers like Hammer, whom she calls the best she faced all season, Hannah is unrelenting.
“My mentality is, the pitcher is not going to beat me when I go up there, no matter who it is. No matter if she has a scholarship, if she’s just throwing, I don’t care. My mentality is I’m going to beat her.”
So what’s left to do at the high school level? “Just to be better than you were the year before, the game before,” Hannah said.
“I want to win a section championship, so ...”
So, the work never ends. But that’s OK, since for Hannah Clavelle, working at softball is what’s fun.
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