Jenissa Conway is always in the middle of things. On the sidelines, her voice is always among the crowd, chanting for her teammates. She’s in the heart of the batting order. And out in center field, Conway ties two sides of the outfield together. She’s even a middle child.
“She’s the middle of our field, the middle of our offense in everything we do,” Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl told The Michigan Daily. “Whether balls are being hit to her and she’s making diving catches or she’s stealing bases or hitting the ball over the fence — she’s in the middle of everything we do.”
Sophomore center fielder Jenissa Conway’s position in the middle of the field is one where she’s always thrived — a place where she can play a central role for her team. The Wolverines recognized her potential when they recruited her as a cornerstone of her recruiting class, and she’s been exceptional from day one. Now midway through her collegiate softball career, Conway has established herself as the star she was always meant to be.
***
Before Jenissa started her career in the middle of the outfield, she could often be found in the middle of the diamond as a pitcher. As a lefty, her options were limited in field play, and she found her first home in the circle.
Conway ultimately had to give up pitching as the demands of the role — both physically and economically — limited her ceiling. But Conway never needed to be a pitcher to be a star. Instead, what’s always stood out about Conway is how athletic she is. Tall and fast, she caught the eye of Bill Schroll, president of Sorcerer Softball. The club is an elite softball organization in Northern California, and Schroll had brought her out to a friendly game as a favor to another coach. Conway was in seventh grade, had only played rec ball and had no formal coaching or training — but Schroll saw her potential. Even with Conway crying on the bench after striking out three times, Schroll knew he’d found a special player who could be the centerpiece of any team.
“I went up to her mom and I said, ‘She’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen, and I want her,’ ” Schroll told The Daily. “I pulled Jenissa aside and said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ she’s crying. I said, ‘We’re going to do a lot better than that.’ ”
Schroll was right. By the end of the season, Conway was playing in the Premier Girls Fastpitch 14U National Championship game.
Conway’s softball career took off from there. She played for the Sorcerers until she graduated high school, as well as suiting up for her high school team, Maryville High. Over time, she shifted to center field and her batting improved significantly as her coaches refined her raw athleticism into one of the best hitters in the country.
However, that talent and her status as the centerpiece of her team meant that Conway always faced the toughest matchups. Pitchers wanted to face her and they wanted her to fail. She was the center of every opposing team’s scouting report — the one they wanted to strike out the most.
“I used to tell her, ‘You’re their Super Bowl,’ ” Joey Rodriguez, Conway’s Sorcerer coach, told The Daily. “ ‘If they get you out, that’s the greatest thing of their day. So people are coming for you.’ And she had to learn how to deal with that. She always got everyone’s best. So it was hard for her at times. But when she succeeded, she proved who she really was.”
The pressure gave Conway a flair for big moments. Rodriguez recalls one such moment in 16U against a rival team. One of the area’s star pitchers, who later pitched for UConn, was throwing rise ball after rise ball. In a tie game, Conway stepped up to the plate. The pitcher threw one a little too high and Conway crushed it over the center-field wall to walk off the game for her team.
That flair has carried into her college career with the Wolverines; four of her 16 home runs were against Michigan State, including two in a shootout with Spartans first baseman Kaelin Cash that went to extra innings. Conway relishes the opportunity to beat the best pitchers every game and loves the feeling she gets when she takes big hits off star pitchers.
“It’s like, ‘I got you,’ ” Conway told The Daily with a laugh. “ ‘Yeah, I got you, girl.’ … It just feels good, and you feel accomplished. I know what she’s pitching. I made the adjustments. I did it and it paid off.”
That doesn’t mean failure comes easily for Conway, though. While she’s no longer crying on the bench during games after striking out, frustration creeps in easily for her. As someone that her team relied upon heavily, her shortcomings felt bigger than just herself. Rodriguez used to remind her that another chance was always coming, but it didn’t make it any easier.
During her freshman year, she recalled feeling a lot of anger whenever she couldn’t record a hit. It ultimately led former Michigan captain and catcher Keke Tholl to have a talk with the freshman about having to put things behind her to support the team, even when she was struggling. For Conway, who Rodriguez described as the “ringleader” of her youth teams, the realization that she wasn’t being a good teammate was sobering. With this in mind, she made it her mission to find the fun in the game again and support her teammates more.
“Last year … I would get so mad wanting to do these great things, and I was losing the fun out of it,” Conway said. “My biggest goal was just to be a good teammate this year.”
In the process of finding her identity within the team and being a good teammate, Conway has found her way back into the center of the team’s bond. She lives with sophomore right-hander Erin Hoehn and sophomore right fielder Ella Stephenson, who both committed to Michigan at the same time she did. And she’s dedicated herself to always being her teammates’ biggest cheerleader.
Her play has improved as well. Conway and Michigan assistant coach Amanda Chidester have worked endlessly on improving her hitting technique. Conway spent hours over the offseason working on it and finally nailed her extension earlier this year, leading to her offensive explosion of 16 home runs. Her ever-present athleticism also continues to pay off as she’s tied for the team lead in stolen bases with 15.
For her coaches back home, none of this is a surprise.
“She’s the shit,” Schroll said. “She’s one that comes along every once in a while.”
Conway is proving that to the world right now.
***
Conway didn’t know what to expect when her phone rang at eight p.m. on Sept. 1, 2021. The Michigan area code staring up at her was something from a world she’d never pictured herself in. But she picked up the phone anyway.
Over the course of an hour-long conversation with legendary former Wolverines coach Carol Hutchins, Conway found herself believing Michigan could be the place for her. The feeling was solidified with a visit and she’s now found a second home somewhere she knew nothing about before starting her collegiate commitment journey.
“She was going to be the big cornerstone wherever she went,” Rodriguez said. “She was that type of player … she was a phenom.”
But she’s now a star player at one of the biggest softball schools in the country, and she gets to be herself every minute she’s there. Having been the crux of the scouting report from her youth until her college career, Conway is used to being the center of attention — and that’s exactly how she likes it.
