Having only experienced Little League and high school baseball with my son, I had little idea how different girls sports could be. When my daughters started playing softball, several significant differences became apparent.

The most glaring issues were the lack of decent facilities and the scarcity of female coaches and mentors. The fields were spread around town without fences, snack bars, batting cages or lights … all of which were in one lovely complex at Davis Little League. For the most part, the girls didn’t mind. They were able to play softball with their friends. 

The lack of female mentors became more pronounced as the girls got older. Many of the female coaches stopped coaching as the age groups progressed. Unfortunately, this is also when the girls started to notice, and their experiences diverged more. 

I oversaw Player Development on the Davis Youth Softball League Board for years. Getting more female mentors was at the top of our list. In search of some ideas, two springs ago, I stumbled across a video clip from Jomboy Media on YouTube, titled “Twins Dominate in Their College Debut for UConn.”

The story centered on freshman twin sisters, Hope and Grace Jenkins, as they played in their first college game at UConn. Grace would hit a home run and Hope would get the win, striking the final batter and embracing her catcher, sister Grace.

Even before my tears dried, I knew these two athletes would be the perfect mentors. As fate would have it, they were from the area and had attended St. Francis High School. They even played against Davis High softball the previous spring. I would not hold it against them that Hope shut out the Blue Devils while striking out 16, or that Grace hit a double and triple.

I reached out to the twins, and they were excited to come help out our DYSA girls. They were back in the Sacramento area after finishing their freshman season and collecting awards (Grace was the Big East Freshman of the Year, and Hope was Big East Pitcher of the Week twice).

They came to Davis and worked with several different Davis summer teams, spanning multiple age groups. They helped run a practice with the 8U girls and signed autographs afterwards, with many of them lining up multiple times to get everything in their bags signed. The kids were starstruck. The 10u and 12U girls were excited and hung on every word the twins said.

The vibe differed when Grace and Hope came out the next day to work with our 16U girls. The age gap was only a couple of years; they were peers more than anything else. Hope worked with the pitchers, hung out, and had meaningful conversations with the girls. Grace would work with the hitters and could give instructions and demonstrate in a way that resonated with them. 

After they were done, Grace and Hope told the girls to reach out if they had questions about softball, college or anything else. That was the moment I knew we needed to do more of this: give girls mentors who have recently gone through what they are going through. 

I thanked them and told them how much this meant to me. Knowing how busy they were, this was a considerable request. But they both lit up and thanked me for the opportunity.

Grace said, “This was so fun. It takes us back to when we were kids; the game was so carefree.”

Hope added, “To give back to these girls was just amazing. We had great coaches, but never really had women mentors help us when we were their age.”  

Hope and Grace would attend a few of the team’s tournament games during the summer before returning to the University of Connecticut. 

This spring was their junior year at UConn, and it would be a season for the record books. The Huskies won the Big East Tournament and made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001. Hope, a dual threat, had 11 wins on the mound, hit five home runs, and reached career milestones with her 200th strikeout and 100th hit. She was named to the Second Team All-Big East.

Grace had the best season in UConn softball history. She set the UConn single-season record for home runs (21), doubles (19), RBI (68), and total bases (154). She was named the Big East player of the year. 

Getting to know them and seeing their joy in coaching the younger softball players made rooting for them easy. Every weekend this spring, I looked at the box score, and almost without fail, I would see  HR: Jenkins, and it would make my day.

I know they will continue to give back to the game, and I hope more like them will follow suit. I also encourage you to watch the video I referenced earlier; it is special.