Abbotsford’s Chelsea Jenner and the San Jose State University Spartans softball team are flying high, and it’s set to be a remarkable summer for the Abbotsford Christian Secondary grad.
The Spartans, who compete in the NCAA’s Mountain West conference, are coming off a three-game sweep of Utah State last weekend and their magic number is now two to clinch the MW championship.
As of press time, San Jose State’s record sits in first place in the conference with a record of 15-6 in MW play, and a 35-15 record overall.
Jenner, an outfielder on the Spartans, is having a breakout 2017 season. She has recorded a batting average of .366, two home runs and 16 runs batted in during 45 games played so far this season. In MW conference play she’s hitting a sparkling .391 and has a team high 27 hits.
Her strong play hasn’t gone unrecognized, as she was named the MW Player of the Week on April 4 for an impressive stretch of play in late-March.
In a four-game stretch starting on March 29, Jenner went 10-for-13 from the plate, a .769 batting average, scored four runs, and drove in three more without a strikeout. Among her 10 hits, she had two doubles and a home run. Her on-base percentage was .714 and she slugged 1.154.
The senior outfielder went two-for-three, with a home run, scored twice and drove in two runs in the team’s 10-0 run-rule victory over Loyola Marymount on March 29.
In the first two games of a three-game MW series at San Diego State over the weekend, Jenner went five-for-five. She was three-for-three with a double and scored a run in a 5-3 victory on March 31. On April Fool’s Day, Jenner was two-for-two and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in a 5-3 loss.
In the rubber game on April 2, a nine-inning affair, she suffered her toughest day at the plate, going three-for-five with a double and a run scored, but the team lost 7-6.
Jenner and the Spartans close out the regular season with a three-game set against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Running Rebels from May 11 to 13. If they win two of the three games, they are MW champions.
It’s the fourth year in the sunshine state for Jenner, who developed at the Power Zone Academy and with the Ignite Athlete Development Program through Pacific Sport in Abbotsford.
The 2013 ACS grad excelled at the junior national championships in 2011 and 2012 with Team BC, and she was called up by the Canadian senior women’s national team to serve as a pinch runner at the Canadian Open International Championships held in July 2012 at Softball City in Surrey. She was also named Softball BC’s 2012 Athlete of the Year.
Later this summer, Jenner will head to Missisauga, Ont., for the Softball Canada women’s national team selection camp. She was one of 29 players invited to the camp, which runs from June 22 to 27. Abbotsford natives Taylor Lundrigan and Callum Pilgrim also received invites to the camp.
Once the team is chosen, it will participate at the World Cup of Softball and Canada Cup events in July, as well as the Pan American Championship and Japan Cup in August.