Undaunted Kelli Jenkins : Making History
Kelli Ann Jenkins has heard it practically her whole life: girls should play softball ….not baseball. Hearing it at times has been frustrating and/or irritating for her. But, it has never deterred her. She has remained undaunted in her love of the game.
And now, because this pioneer has persevered……..she has literally made history. The NCAA has confirmed that she is the first athlete in history ever to play on a college men’s team (baseball) and a college women’s team (basketball) in the same season.
And the former Bethesda Chevy Chase (BCC) Big Train and Rockville Express pitcher in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League (MCBL) is not quite done yet.
Growing up in the Potomac, Maryland area she was born into an athletic family. Her father Ronnie runs the Kid Ball program where all of his children were exposed to sports. Kelli’s older sister Katie played baseball with the boys until switching to softball in the 4th grade to be with her friends. Her older brother Niko played baseball along with her younger brother Jack.
Like many ballplayers, Kelli started out in T-ball, graduating to machine pitch. As she was continuing to play, she came across a book in the third grade: “A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson by Michelle Green. It’s the story of how Mamie Johnson became one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues and was the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues.
The book inspired her to dream. Finally, it had become clear that she could follow her dream….that women could play baseball even if they had to break barriers to do so.
So, she continued to pitch and play second base…..frequently breaking barriers by becoming the first girl on her team or in her league.
She then enrolled in St. John’s High School in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference……famous for its baseball performance and tradition.
St. John’s annually sent out emails to prospective male players advising them of fall tryouts for the spring team. Having never received an email invite, Kelli approached the St. John’s head coach and inquired about tryouts……only to find out they were the very next day. Undaunted, she tried out and made the team…..appearing as a reliever on the freshman high school team.
Her time at St. John’s was special and fueled her love for the game….even though it meant waking up before dawn to attend workouts.
That following summer, she decided to focus on pitching while playing for her summer team. Her decision and work ethic began to pay dividends and by her junior year the St. John’s coach called her his “speciality” pitcher. He knew he could count on her to warm up quickly, take the mound and shut the other team down for an inning or two.
Normally, high school players really look to shine in their senior season. But, life threw a curve at Kelli. She didn’t make the baseball team in her senior season. The St. Johns team was loaded and nationally ranked.
Such an event would be devastating to most high school seniors. But not Kelli. Again, she remained undaunted, refocused and made the practice squad. This enabled her to practice with the team and continue to learn and perfect her pitching repertoire.
Given her athlectism, it should come as no surprise that she could play another sport as well. Kelli also excelled at basketball…..again playing for the St. John’s women’s team starting as a freshman and sophomore.
After her high school senior season, she joined the BCC Big Train in the MCBL in the summer of 2018. Playing for her favorite manager, Bryan Towers, she broke yet another barrier by being the first female player in MCBL history.
This milestone went largely unnoticed. In part, because Coach Towers didn’t think of her gender when he thought about summoning her from the bullpen…..he thought only of her ability to get outs. To him, she was a valued pitcher…..and not some novelty.
Later in the fall of 2018, she attended a baseball camp at St. Mary’s College. After the St. Mary’s baseball coaches watched her pitch just one inning, they immediately offered her a spot on the St. Mary’s College mens baseball team that spring. Just let that fact sink in for a moment….as soon as they saw her, they wanted her on the team.
Most would be thrilled and completely satisfied with this opportunity. But Kelli was not done.
Despite not starting for her high school basketball team as a junior and senior, she not only made her college baseball team but also tried out and made her college women’s basketball team where she started as a freshman for the St. Mary’s College women’s basketball team as a 5’6” shooting guard.
The stage was then set in the spring of 2019, as she made NCAA history when she stepped onto the field for St. Mary’s Seahawks in an NCAA men’s baseball game. Of all the great athletes in the history of college sports, no one has ever played for a college men’s team and a college women’s team. No one.
In the summer of 2019, she rejoined the BCC Big Train in the MCBL league. During an exhibition game Kelli pitched well against the BCC Big Train of the Cal Ripken League. In particular, she remembers her confrontation when Jacob Southern stepped to the plate. Jacob has also enjoyed success on the diamond and was playing for Indiana University in the Big Ten Conference. However, all Jacob could muster against Kelli was a routine ground out.
The BCC coaches of the Cal Ripken League took notice and asked her to join them later that season in their drive for the league championship. Once again, she broke another barrier and became the first female player in the Cal Ripken League.
She continued to pitch for the St. Mary’s College baseball team ……having never given up a run in her two years with them on the mound.
In the spring of 2020, Covid-19 gripped the country. Later, like many summer baseball programs, the BCC Big Train decided not to field a team during the 2020 summer season. Undaunted, Kelli tried out and made the Rockville Express 2020 team in the MCBL….which was one of the very few summer college leagues in the country to play baseball that year.
Over the summer, impressed with what he previously saw, the head women’s basketball coach at Chatham University near Pittsburgh reached out to Kelli to see if she’d be interested in playing for them. Kelli said…..yes, but with one condition……that she be allowed to tryout for the men’s baseball team.
Determined in part, to prove that her experience at St. Mary’s College was no fluke, Kelli dediced to take a chance and transferred to Chatham before the fall baseball tryout. And as before, she made the team…..actually both teams (women’s basketball and men’s baseball).
Missing the first few weeks of the spring baseball season while the winter basketball team wrapped up play, she quickly got her arm into shape and took the mound for Chatham Cougars baseball team as a reliever. Thus, she has played for a men’s college team and a women’s college team in the same season……at two different colleges (St. Mary’s 2019/2020 and Chatham 2021/2022).
During the summer of 2021, she was back with her favorite coach as the BCC Big Train attempted to secure their first double: a MCBL regular season and tournament championship.
On the mound, Kelli relied upon her composure and her assortment of pitches taught to her by her father. Realizing that she won’t blow a fastball by too many batters, she relied upon a knuckleball, a knuckle curve and a two seam fastball.
She sometimes benefited from batters who take themselves out of their normal approach at the plate. Some just plain get nervous for fear of striking out “against a girl”. Others become overly aggressive in hopes of smashing a line drive. She has learned not to throw a fastball on the first pitch as some batters look to crush the ball for a homer. Most batters quickly learn that they are facing a legitimate college pitcher.
Being used to big moments and tense situations has served her well. For example, in a key 2021 regular season MCBL matchup BCC was trailing the Baltimore Chop 8-0. Her team needed someone to stop the bleeding. In came Kelli who pitched two scoreless innings to stem the tide. Keeping her team in the game payed off as BCC rallied in the last inning to come from behind and win the game.
What’s next for her to accomplish? How about Hollywood?
First some background: Some fans may be aware of Justine Siegal who became the first female coach in professional baseball and Major League Baseball when she joined the Oakland A’s. Along the way, she has pitched batting practice for the A’s, the Tampa Bay Rays, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Houston Astros and the New York Mets.
While you may not have heard of Ms. Siegal…….Justine has heard of Kelli.
Justine reached out to Kelli via Instagram inviting her to be a featured extra in an upcoming TV series “A League of Their Own”. The show is an adaptation of the 1992 film of the same name about a World War II era women’s professional baseball team and airs on Amazon Prime.
Benefiting from a recent NCAA ruling, Kelli accepted and participated in the filming which started in July, 2021…….conveniently located in the Pittsburg area about 30 minutes from where she was staying for Chatham University.
Kelli thoroughly enjoyed the whole experiences and was impressed with how supportive the professional actors were. She was featured as the starting pitcher for the opposing South Bend Blue Sox team.
Filming wrapped up in early November and Kelli was invited to attend the world premier with all her fellow actors at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City…..including some interesting after-parties.
The TV series started airing August 12, 2022 on Amazon Prime. Kelli believes she is in 3 or 4 episodes. She’s not really sure……as she hasn’t taken the time to watch herself on TV. It’s enough to know that her parents thought she did a good job.
And just before all of that, Kelli wrapped up her college career by making more history. On Senior Day, May 7, 2022 at Chatham University, she took the mound as the starting pitcher against Waynesburg University. In her last game on a college baseball mound, she didn't give up a single hit and held the opponents scoreless. Not only did she earn the victory, by doing so she became the first women in NCAA history to officially earn a win pitching for a men’s college baseball team. She finished the 2022 season with a 3.00 ERA……the second lowest amount 15 pitchers on the team.
After all that………..it might be folly to ask what’s next for this young woman.
This past spring, she was interviewed and filmed as background for a forthcoming book on grass roots baseball in America. This past summer she passed on her inspiring story while teaching young players the basics of baseball at the Kid Ball camps.
And while she’s working on her master’s degree this fall in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, she has become the Graduate Assistant Coach for the Marymount University Women’s basketball team.
Just as she frequently thwarted overconfident batters and broken numerous barriers, she continues to make an impact in the lives of athletes of all ages. She also continues to hold tight to that book on Mamie Johnson…….and hopes her elementary school library will never notice it’s missing!!
