ORMOND BEACH -- It was in the nighttime hours this winter, after Abby Clark had helped her siblings to bed, that the scary thoughts came into her brain.

The 14-year-old Calvary Christian softball star would see Brittany, 10, and Daniel, 7, fade off into dreamland, and then she'd be alone inside her own head.

That's when her low moments were, she said, when thinking about the seriousness of the illness her dad was suffering through.

Last December, Abby's father, Calvary athletics director Jack Clark, started having severe headaches. After checking into the hospital, Jack had a mass removed from his brain and was found to have nocardiosis, a rare bacterial disorder that usually starts in the lungs before spreading to other organs.

"We were told that one of the ways it gets into your system" Jack's wife, Christi, said, "is from being around athletic fields a lot. Well, Jack certainly is around fields a lot."

Doctors told Jack that he had a 30 percent chance of survival. It was a tricky thing, how much to tell Abby. Yes, she's just a kid, but she's the oldest sibling, and as such, needed to know what was going on.

Jack and Christi decided to give her most of the information they had.

"I don't think I knew everything, but I knew how serious things were and that my dad almost died," Abby said, sitting in the stands after softball practice Wednesday. "At night was when I really got scared, because I didn't have other things to keep my mind busy. The rest of the time, when they'd call from the hospital or I'd go see him, I tried to stay positive for my dad."

Abby is enjoying a wonderful softball season as an eighth-grader, and her father has been right there to watch. Abby is the second baseman and one of the leading hitters for Calvary Christian, which is playing in its first Class 1A regional semifinal tonight at 7 at Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

With a quick swing and a terrific glove, she has helped lead the Lions to within two games of the Final Four.

And to make the story even sweeter, Jack is finally getting healthy again. After spending weeks in Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach following his first surgery, Jack had a second surgery two weeks ago to put a bone flap back in his head, a procedure that couldn't be done originally because there was so much swelling.

Jack was there to watch Abby and her teammates win the district championship last week.

"It was so important having him there, because I look for him (in the stands) before every game," Abby said. "I can always hear what he's saying to me."

Abby said things changed quite a bit for her this winter, a notion seconded by coach Bobby Conner.

"There was definitely a period of distraction for her, which is, of course, natural," Connor said. "She wasn't as outgoing as she normally was, and it affected her on the field a little bit.

"But lately, she's just played so well."

At the plate, Clark is mature beyond her years. She drives the ball to all fields, and has struck out just twice in 84 at-bats this spring.

She credits a lot of her success to her year-round play with the Renegades, an AAU softball program in Daytona Beach.

"I just have so much more confidence this year because I'm used to seeing good pitching," she said. "I've gotten stronger and know that I can hit the ball pretty far if I do what I'm supposed to do."

As much as Clark's softball has improved with her dad's condition getting better, she said it has given her a little bit of a different perspective on life. For a 14-year-old, she's pretty introspective and mature when discussing her priorities.

"I think I worry less now, because I know that things can change, like that'' she said. "My dad could've died, and it's made me think about how much I love softball, and everything else in my life."

Copyright © 2010 The Daytona Beach News-Journal