In a season they’d rather forget, Sari-Jane Jenkins and Melissa Rice will remember this weekend as their last in an Oregon uniform before they move on to separate careers.
After making the NCAA Tournament the past three seasons, it’s an unceremonious end to a frustrating season where Oregon softball faded into last place in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 15-32 record overall and won just two league games.
As head coach Kathy Arendsen has often spoken this season, Jenkins echoed the team’s rallying cry of this season as one of growth for the younger players toward another run for the postseason next year. Unfortunately, it leaves the two seniors on a disappointing end to their record-breaking careers.
“The legacy these guys are leaving for us really won’t be felt until next year, cause the foundation has been laid,” Arendsen said. “They’re both extremely incredible women.”
“This game is so caught up in numbers; it’s really the only thing people associate the game with, like, ‘What’s your win-loss record?’” said Jenkins, who came to Oregon from Swouth Salem High. “What you don’t realize is those numbers don’t mean anything. You know it’s like the moments you experience in between the lines … it gives you so much more perspective.”
Jenkins, a left fielder for much of her career, started her career as a freshman who led the team in hits and hit .298 while appearing in all but one of the team’s 52 games. She turned into an All-Pac-10 and All-Region Second Team player as a sophomore, when her hits, stolen bases and doubles totals on the year ranked second in school history for a single season.
Last season she was an honorable-mention pick in the conference, breaking the school career record in stolen bases.
This season has defied statistics for the Ducks, mainly because the statistics aren’t pretty. Only one player on the team, Neena Bryant, has a batting average above .300, one main reason why the team’s failures at the plate have loomed so large over the team and leave them in last place in the Pac-10 in nearly every hitting category.
“You can’t worry about your results,” Jenkins said. “When you’ve gone out and done everything you can you’ve got to be proud of yourself. A game is a game.”
Rice was a similar force in her first three seasons for Oregon, winning pitcher of the year in 2006 and 2007 and after her junior year when she won 11 games. Coming into her senior season Rice was ranked in the top 10 in Oregon’s record books in shutouts, wins, strikeouts, games, complete games and innings.
This year has been a change of pace, then, for the Spokane-area native.
She is last on the team in appearances with 14, her role on the mound diminished by a strong freshman year by Samantha Skillingstad. She says she wants to be an older sister for the young players on the team who are adjusting to college softball, but she’s not shy to voice her frustration.
“This year has been an experience,” Rice said.
“It’s bittersweet.”
An injury to her left foot at the airport last weekend when she fell down a set of stairs has brought up the possibility Rice may not pitch in her final series as a collegian.
“I don’t think I’m ready (to end her career),” she said. “I may never pitch again.”
She’s doing everything she can in the meantime to be ready with physical therapy during the week to get the ankle in good enough shape to last a few innings when Arizona State and Arizona play three games this weekend at Howe Field.
Arendsen expected Rice to be on the mound for at least a portion of the weekend to honor her career. “I’ve never coached a woman so together,” Arendsen said, referring to Rice’s summer wedding and the house that she’s building with her fiance.
“I’m going to do everything I possibly can,” Rice said.
She may never pitch again because unlike Jenkins, Rice is planning to go to Oregon State for a master’s degree in elementary education that will take two years. Although she would like to get into high school coaching, she doesn’t know if she’ll play post-collegiately.
Jenkins was drafted with the 19th pick in February’s National Professional Fastpitch senior draft, and will move to Akron, Ohio, to play with the Akron Racers in June. The league’s three-month, 20-game season begins June 10, meaning Jenkins is trying to find a way to work around her exams to start with the Racers. The season ends Aug. 16.
“It’s weird to think about this as a job now,” Jenkins said. “To be honest, I’m going to be the rookie. I’ve got heads-up on what to expect but not until I really dip my toe in the water.”
She will return to Eugene next year as an undergraduate assistant coach from fall through spring with Arendsen, a role like 2008 graduate Lovena Chaput is currently in with the team.
“One of my biggest goals for me is when I walk away not to worry about the player I was on the field,” Jenkins said. “I want to be remembered as the team player.”
“It’s hard to see them go to be honest with you,” Arendsen said.
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After difficult season, two seniors leave on bittersweet note
Daily Emerald
May 5, 2009
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