Bryan Palacio/ contributing writer
Softball freshman Corinne Jenkins has gone from first-year pitcher to one of the best pitchers in a Sun Belt Conference that includes two of the best teams in the nation.
“I don’t let the fact that I’m a freshman keep me from believing that I can still dominate and win games,” Jenkins said. “It motivates me more, because you come in here and nobody expects anything and you have to prove yourself.”
Dominating and winning games has become part of her repertoire as the rookie pitcher leads the team with an 11-2 record. Her 11 wins are one more than the rest of the pitching staff combined. She makes up more than half of the wins the team has achieved.
Despite her recent success, Jenkins’ season didn’t get off to a smooth start.
After winning her first game on opening night versus Georgetown, Jenkins was clobbered in her next game by a North Carolina State team that won the season opening tournament. FIU lost the game 11-3 in just five innings after the mercy rule was applied. She gave up six runs in just the first inning of the game.
“Not good,” Jenkins said. “It definitely helped me, as soon as that game was over I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to sit here and figure it out before the next game. This is not happening to me again.’ Ever since then I’ve been reading this book. It’s called “Ten Minute Toughness”, it’s all about the mental part of the game and I just really feel like it’s helped me a lot.”
Jenkins can also count on great support from her father, Mack Jenkins, who is the Assistant Pitching Coach for the Cincinnati Reds. Mack was a pitcher in the Reds’ Double AA team in the 1980s.
“It’s awesome and honestly he’s been such a good influence on me because he’s hard on me, but at the same time he’s helped me so much with the mental aspect of it,” Jenkins said. “I know I can always talk to him, good or bad, he has something good to say that helps me. When I first started actually, he read some books on softball pitching and first helped me get started with it. He’s got a really good eye for mechanics and pitching, so he can always help me with that.”
Jenkins is first on the team with an ERA of 2.42. She’s also pitched 29 more innings than the next closest pitcher and more than twice as many as the other two pitchers on the team. In fact, Jenkins is third in the SBC having pitched a total of 92.2 innings, only eight fewer than the pitcher in first place. She’s tied for first in the SBC in wins and third in strikeouts.
Jenkins’ ERA is also good for seventh best in the conference. But of those pitchers who are ahead of her, only one has pitched more innings than her. She leads the team in winning percentage, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, appearances, games started and batters struck out while looking.
But her recent rise to success is only a beginning step to what she wants to accomplish. Her main goal is still to win the conference and play for a championship.
“I’d like to win all the conference games that I pitch this year,” Jenkins said. “That’s a big goal of mine.”
Jenkins attributes much of her success to the diligence paid to her by her coaching staff. Head Coach Jake Schumann has done nothing but praise the young pitcher since even before the season started.
With 19 games left in the season, Jenkins will look to continue her stellar play and help lead the Panthers to a conference title and a chance at an NCAA championship.
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