Sari-Jane Jenkins had a unique childhood experience, to say the least.
As the second youngest in a family of seven children, six of which were brothers, Jenkins saw more baseball bats and dirt stains than dolls while growing up.
“It’s kind of funny because growing up with six brothers, I got the dog pile, I got bullied around, and my brothers would always play rough with me,” said Jenkins, Oregon’s steady sophomore centerfielder. “I was a tomboy. I was just kind of one of the guys, and I always had that boy mentality – just kind of ‘put some dirt on it and shake it off.’”
Jenkins comes from a very athletic family. Her brother Andy was a standout baseball star at Oregon State and an integral part of the Beavers’ first College World Series visit in 53 years two years ago.
Andy hit for the cycle and, fittingly, recorded the last out against USC in the final game of Super Regionals, a victory that punched Oregon State’s ticket to Omaha, Neb. and laid the groundwork for the Beavers’ title run in 2006.
Andy was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 11th round (336th overall) in the 2005 draft and is currently a member of the Jupiter (Fla.) Hammerheads, an Advanced-A affiliate of the Marlins.
Sari’s brother Riley Jenkins was a standout athlete in his own right. The former Oregon State football walk-on transferred to Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. and helped the Wildcats clinch their first NCAA Div. III National Championship in 2004.
Riley scored the go-ahead touchdown and was voted Most Outstanding Player in Linfield’s 28-21 victory in the championship game against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Her half-brother Kasey Parks and brother Kerry Jenkins both currently teach English in Barcelona, and another half-brother, Reggie Parks, a Salem resident, is married with two children.
Sari’s younger brother Jordan is a three-sport athlete at West Salem High School.
“I worshiped the ground my brothers walked on,” Jenkins said. “I really look up to my brothers as role models.”
Of course, having ultra-competitive brothers made for some interesting stories from Sari’s youth.
Like the time she took part of a Wiffle Bat to the face while pitching to Andy, which caused her to get stitches, or the time her brothers screened her phone calls from boys in middle school.
At age five, she ran full speed in to a wall in her home in order to gain the approval to “hang out” with her brothers and their friends.
“As much as I wanted to cry, I remember not wanting to show it,” Jenkins said. “Anything that I could do to be just hanging out with the boys, I would definitely make sacrifices, even it caused a few bruises or scars.”
That tough mentality has hardly changed for Jenkins, whose team takes on Penn State in the opening game of the NCAA Regionals Friday in Columbia, S.C.
Last week in Oregon’s season-ending trip to the Bay Area, Jenkins hit a scorching .636 in three games, including a 2-for-3 performance, two runs scored and two stolen bases against Stanford, when she required a stitch after being cleated in the shin while stealing second.
“There are many players that would have definitely come out of the game,” Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen said. “It was a deep cut, but there was no way that kid was not going to continue to play.”
And she even went against the advice of the trainer.
“She told our trainer, ‘I’m fine. Put a Band-Aid on it, let’s go.’ The trainer’s going, ‘There’s more to it than just a Band-Aid,’” Arendsen said. “I know she had a significant amount of pain, but she just sucked it up.”
Jenkins, a four-time all-league selection at South Salem High School, has been a steady performer for the Ducks. She led the team in hits with 50 in her freshman season. This year, Jenkins again leads the team in hits with 75, the third-best mark in Oregon history, and is batting .387, the second highest among regular starters and tenth best in Oregon single-season history.
She is a lifetime .345 hitter, good for fifth on Oregon’s career list.
Jenkins also ranks fifth in Oregon’s single-season record books with 44 runs scored, and is second with 16 doubles, three off the school record.
“She has just had an outstanding year and nobody really knows it but us,” Arendsen said. “She’s a critical key to our success.”
Part of the reason Jenkins’ outstanding season has gone somewhat unnoticed is her place in Oregon’s lineup. She bats in the two spot, after senior standout and four-year starter Suzie Barnes and before redshirt freshman Jenn Salling, a finalist for the Collegiate Softball Player of the Year Award.
“Between Jenn and I, she kind of gets shadowed a little bit, but she’s done a great job,” Barnes said.
Not that it bothers Jenkins much to be shadowed. After all, she grew up with standout brothers. She is also likely to take over Barnes’ role next season, Arendsen said, and she considers Salling, her dorm roommate last year, her closest friend.
“Jenn is definitely the sister I’ve never had and sometimes the sister nobody wants,” Jenkins said, laughing. “I take that back. Me and Jenn have such a unique relationship. I have so much respect for her.”
The two met through e-mail prior to their freshman year and talked on the phone for six months, every day, sometimes more than once per day, Salling said.
They finally met at the University of Washington when Salling’s team was competing and Jenkins was watching Andy take on the Huskies.
“We met on May 11,” Salling said. “She yelled and I turned around and gave her a big hug. It was kind of like a blind date. It was weird.”
And the two have been there for each other ever since. When Salling said she “hit rock bottom and wanted to go home” in her first term at Oregon, Jenkins remained close by her side.
“Sari was like my big sister the whole time,” Salling said. “She always made sure I was all right and always told me how important I am to her. She always somehow brings a new perspective to me.”
It’s a perspective Jenkins credits to her brothers.
“My brothers have always been very supportive of me and always encouraged me,” Jenkins said. “They’ve taught me that no matter how bad things are, it could always be worse. It’s just good to put your life in perspective.”
Jenkins’ ability to put the game of softball in focus has led to outstanding numbers and performances so far in her career and a very encouraging future.
“In the future, the sky’s the limit,” Arendsen said. “She could be one of the better players, or one of the best players, in Oregon history, without a doubt. She’s a very talented player, and she’s only a sophomore.”
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Game Info
Oregon vs. Penn State
2007 NCAA Softball Regional Tournament
Friday, 1 p.m.
Beckham Field
Columbia, S.C.