Carrah Fisk Hennessey Returns to KSC as Head Coach
Sixteen years after retiring her No. 14 Owl jersey and stepping out of the batter’s box for the last time, Keene State softball record holder, Carrah Fisk Hennessey, returns to the field, this time as head coach.
Named the Owls interim coach last August and earning the title of head coach five months later after an extensive interview process, Fisk Hennessey said she couldn’t have made a successful transition without the help and support of past and present KSC softball players. “I wouldn’t be able to take even the interim position without the support of the current players and alumni,” she said. “They knew that I was in it for the best interest of the program and that made the transition a little bit easier for me.”
A four-time All-Conference and three-time recipient of All-Region honors, Fisk Hennessey still holds Keene State season home run (16) and RBI (41) records. She is second in career home runs with 24 and fifth all-time in batting average (.374) and RBIs (103).
Fisk Hennessey’s Keene State roots go back many years. Her dad, Conrad Fisk, a 1972 grad, was a three-sport athlete at KSC, while her uncle, Calvin Fisk, was a chemistry professor at the College in the mid-1970s. Following in the footsteps of her father, Fisk Hennessey also played multiple sports (softball and soccer) for the Owls and was inducted into the Keene State Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
Inspired by her mother, Linda, Fisk Hennessey always knew she wanted to teach as well as coach. Briefly serving as a special education teacher at a local school after graduating, Fisk Hennessey spent nine years as the head soccer and softball coach and assistant athletic director at New England College. “Teaching and coaching are not two separate things – they are the same job on different surfaces,” said Fisk Hennessey of her coaching style. “So if I’m a good teacher, I will be able to reach each player and make sure they are striving to reach their potential.”
When you spend your career tattooing the fences with line drives and sending the ball sailing over the fence into the woods behind the field, the memories tend to linger a long time. “There are some days when I’m walking over to get into the third base coaching box, the pitcher is warming up, and I see that ball come in and I think, Wow – wouldn’t it be great to just grab a bat right now? That’s still part of who I am,” said Fisk Hennessey. “I still want to go out there and want to play hard and win.”
