| Jessica Mendoza #21 Centerfielder By EMILY DRESSEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER It's a breezy, sunny Saturday at the Stanford softball complex. The fans, decked out in Cardinal red and baseball caps, squirm on the edge of the bleachers in tingling anticipation. Bring on any old softball scenario: bottom of the seventh, bases loaded, and two outs situation, or just make it a mid-game lead-off attempt to put a run on the board for the Cardinal. Either way, when the announcer comes on the loud speaker and proclaims the name Jessica Mendoza with his emphatic flair, there's the familiar sigh of relief the fans have had all season to perfect. Number 21 is exactly the person they want at the plate. Call her Mendoza, the Machine, the Extraordinaire, the player who seems immune to any sort of failure at the plate. Her batting average hovers at .467 and boasts the No. 2 slot in all of college softball. She has already surpassed the six single-season records she broke her freshman year and appears on seven of the 13 Cardinal career statistics lists as a sophomore. In addition, this standout is racking up Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week awards as if they were regular pats on the back. She is the only player this season to be honored with three such titles and may be on track this week to snag a fourth after batting .857 last Tuesday against San Jose State. Though her stats allow her to act otherwise, Mendoza couldn't be more modest or unassuming, never daring to take credit for a win or casting blame on those whose records may fall a little shy of perfect. She's a team player through and through, who credits her parents with all the success she's experienced during her time here at Stanford. "My mom and dad love coming to the games. After all, they are the ones who got me here. They did all the hours of driving back and forth in traffic to get me to practice every day." In fact, it was her dad who introduced her to the game of softball, perhaps biased by his position coaching the Moorparq College baseball team in Ventura County, where Mendoza grew up. However, it wasn't hard to sell his daughter on the sport. She dove right in when she was seven, playing as one of the only girls on a local boys' little league team. "I was an extremely energetic kid who just loved all kinds of sports," said Mendoza. "I was the hyperactive tomboy type who had scars all over her knees from playing football on the asphalt with the boys in the neighborhood." When Mendoza was 11, she found an all-girls traveling club on which to play, joining the roster of the Goleta Waves 12-and-under team. By that time, she was hooked on the fast-pitch-windmill, pin-trading, tripleheader world of softball. There was no going back. Although she bounced around from position to position, Mendoza was primarily a short-stop for the various clubs she played on every summer growing up. By the time she reached Camarillo High School, the coaching staff had yet another plan for the multi-talented freshman, decided to mold her into a catcher for one of the top programs in the state. "The story of my life was playing positions I had never played before," Mendoza said. "I think the only two I never touched were first-base and pitcher." Without any prior experience at catcher, she surpassed everyone's expectations and went on to claim the Camarillo High School Female Athlete of the Year Award in both 1997 and 1998. But perhaps even more impressive would be the jump she made from a 14-and-under tournament team to an 18-and-under squad when she was 15, in search of a greater challenge. Mendoza earned a spot on the nationally feared and renowned Gordon's Panthers 18-and-under division team as a high school junior and senior and basked in the glory of winning an American Softball Association Gold Division Softball title in '98. From there, coaches around the country were drooling over Mendoza, anxious to add the young prodigy to their respective programs. "It came down to the fact that I just could not turn down Stanford," Mendoza said. "But besides the academics, I wanted to be an active part of a program, help build it, not just be another number on a championship team." And help build it she has. Mendoza came in, shook things up, and made Cardinal history. Last season as a freshman, she was named first-team All-American and Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year . As a sophomore, Mendoza has already bulldozed Stanford single season records in hits (85), doubles (18), home runs (11), runs scored (53) and stolen bases (14), leaving fans wondering if this superstar could possibly be for real. "Jessica is a phenomenal talent," said head coach John Rittman. "She generates tremendous bat speed and approaches the plate with a clear idea of what she wants to do." "Last year she was more of a streaky hitter, every once in a while going on these offensive terrors, while this year she is much more consistent." But No. 21 seems never to be satisfied, no matter how stellar her performance is. "I don't like to think in terms of breaking records," said Mendoza. "Softball is a constant struggle. Even if you're hitting .400, that means you're failing six out of 10 times. "I think I got my work ethic from my dad," Mendoza said. "He is one of the greatest coaches, but it was hard being the daughter too. I gave him some of the dirtiest looks and yelled and screamed at him sometimes. He'd videotape my games in high school, sit me down in front of the T.V., and say 'Look, see what you're doing here.' I absolutely hated it." The turning point came late in high school for Mendoza when she finally realized her dad's persistence had made the difference in her success. For now, there is no end in sight for No. 21 as far as softball is concerned. She is one of the game's true players who cherishes the sport like a part of her soul. "When I think of softball," said Mendoza, "I think of hot scorching days out in the outfield grass, the sweat beading down your forehead and the distant murmur of the crowds. There is this whirlwind of emotion there that cannot be described." Perhaps it is the bittersweet blending of all the memories piled up over the years, the familiar faces of teammates old and new and those moments of absolute elation that seem to halt time and remind you why it is you play this game. "Every player needs those reminders. That the gain is in fact, worth the sacrifice. "I think the best moments are the times when every player is completely wrapped up in the game. When you don't even know who got the winning hit because it feels like the whole team hit it." "That's what you play for - for special moments like that." |
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| I found this article about Jessica, saved it to my computer, printed it(because I didn't have enought ime to read it all before I left to go somewhere). I also added to my favorites and linked it to the Mendoza links page(I usually don't do all that; no idea why I did it this time), but now none of my online links to it work and I can't find the article online anymore, so I copyed and pasted the copy I saved on my computer so you could all read it. |