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April 4, 2006 Want to know what determination looks like? What it sounds like? Then take a seat here, on the bleachers behind Saint Martin's Pavilion. It's here on most afternoons that Saint Martin's softball team practices, scooping grounders, hitting fastballs and chasing pop-ups. Long, lanky legs speed down the first base line, hoping to beat out a grounder. The ball pops into the glove and beats the runner to the bag by a step. There's the familiar chatter from the players, the familiar pop of a fastball into the catcher's glove. The "tink" of a single off an aluminum bat. This year's team motto is "Practice with a purpose. Play with a passion." After a 4-24 start, there's been no motto modification. No revisions, nor compromises. No "Try if you want" adaptations. Hustle and effort haven't gotten lost in an eight-game losing streak, or a 10-run mercy rule loss. If effort alone wins championships, then Kirstin Jensen's got a winner. "This team hasn't given up," Jensen said, the Saints' first-year coach. Her voice is hoarse from yelling and encouraging. "It's easy to give up when you lose," she said. "But I've never had a team that's tried harder. This team hasn't given up." Saint Martin's is 1-8 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, beating Northwest Nazarene 8-6 for its lone conference win. "I'm just like everyone else," Jensen said. "I hate losing." Until this year, she hasn't had much practice at it. As a player, she was a catcher at Pacific Lutheran University, where playoffs are like taxes -- unavoidable. As a head coach, she went 59-5 in two seasons at Highline Community College. Then in one year at Dominican University in California, she took a perennial loser and finished 26-20. Now, Jensen is attempting Lazarus Part II. "What this team needs is to learn to believe it can win," Jensen said. Typically, losing is like morphine. It dulls effort, dulls practices and dulls confidence. But Jensen, the hopeless "glass is half full" optimist, hasn't stopped believing. "They get frustrated with the losing," Jensen said. "Heck, I get frustrated. But I've told them from the start that if they're doing their best, trusting their teammates and the program and trusting me, the wins will come." Rather than winning games, Jensen has her team thinking about winning innings. Last week against nationally ranked San Francisco State, the Saints held a heavenly 3-0 lead. But a grand slam resulted in a hellish 5-3 defeat. "We're close," Jensen said. "We're not losing by seven or eight runs each time out. It's one or two runs." Krishanna Nass, the Saints' leadoff batter, is the team's lone senior. The Saints, with four juniors, three sophomores and six freshmen, are the youngest team in the conference. Jensen is hoping they're a team of tomorrow. They've got the proper bloodlines. Halley Cey, the team's shortstop and top batter at .321, is a relative of Ron Cey, the former Los Angeles Dodger. But the Saints are batting only .244 and have a bloated 5.18 ERA, worst in the conference. "I keep reminding them that the wins will come," Jensen said. "The wins will come." Courtesy of The Olympian.
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