Karns City’s Dunn commits to Pitt-Greensburg
KARNS CITY — Getting her first taste of the sport she’d come to love, Karns City’s Jessica Dunn played with girls a couple of years older than herself. She was much more apt to stay behind the scenes than she is these days.
“Terrifying,” Dunn said, summing up her introduction to what would become a year-round passion. “It was the first time I ever played softball … I remember I didn’t get much playing time. We went into the playoffs one year and I was the bat girl. I was on the team, but I just turned into their bat girl.
“It’s funny looking back now because no one would ever expect that from me as a player.”
With each passing year on the diamond — a dozen of them, to be exact — she developed the self-assuredness that carries her to the next level of softball. She committed to continue her playing career at Division III Pitt-Greensburg last week.
As a seven-year-old, Dunn was playing 10-and-under with her older sister, Mackenzie Dunn, who’s now playing collegiately at Chatham. Jessica’s instinctive talent was there and, once she settled in, it shined through.
“Jess has always had that just natural ability,” said her father, Russ Dunn. “It made it easy. I think it just came from seeing it for so many years. She was everywhere Mackenzie was for two years, so she got to see everything Mackenzie did, and it helped her pick it up.”
Russ has coached Jessica in some capacity each year that she’s picked up a bat and glove. The guidance from her father and motivation to keep up with her sister have been driving factors for Jessica to get to where she is.
“I couldn’t have gotten through all of it without my dad and my sister,” she said. “I mean, I look up to my sister constantly … It’s the confidence of knowing that if she can do it, I can do it, too, because I’ve always been able to be there at that level with her.”
Last spring, Jessica hit .333, racked up 21 RBIs, and scored13 runs as Karns City enjoyed a successful season and notched its first-ever state playoff win. Where her prior experience has really helped her stand out, though, is behind the catcher’s mask, Gremlins coach Mike Stitt said.
“It makes the plays easy for her,” Stitt said. “It should slow it down for her, which it does … She’s able to come off the field and tell me what’s going on, what she’s seeing, (and) how the pitchers are throwing.”
“All the expectation is on you,” said Jessica, who’s even called several games as a backstop. “You would think it’s on the pitcher, but I’m the one relaying everything to the pitcher and I’m the one calling out to the outfielders where to throw the ball.
“You need to have the confidence in softball to be that. It took a lot of knowledge to get there … It’s not like I think about it at this point. I just know it.”
She’s used to playing second- and third-base on the travel circuit, but Stitt said that she’ll see more of the infield at the prep level during the upcoming campaign and further praised her talents behind the dish, too.
“We need to help prepare her for the college level,” he said. “She’s going to be playing multiple positions. She batted third and fifth in the order. She’s able to handle our pitchers really well. She works the inside and the outside of the plate. She knows how to use the umpires, as well… She’s able to work them and get the calls that we need.”
Moving around is a challenge that Jessica is looking forward to.
“I’m excited that people can see that I play more than one position,” Dunn said. “I think they underestimate me, too. I’m a small catcher. I’m probably the smallest catcher most teams see … I like to lob the ball over to second base and then they come stealing and I just throw them out — because they don’t expect it.
“It’s kind of nice being small.”
She likes a small-town feel, too, which was why she chose Pitt-Greensburg despite feeling like she could play at the Division II level. She also collected offers from LaRoche and St. Vincent.
“Going to a small school in high school, I knew that’s what I wanted to do in college,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to some big city school. I’m a country girl out here … I wanted a small school that I enjoy.”
Jessica has an idea of what she’ll be able to do when she steps on a college field. Unsurprisingly, those plans don’t involve being a bat girl.
“I want to prove myself that I’m supposed to be there, and I will play,” she said. “I’m not the player to sit around on the bench waiting for my time. I’m the player to go out there and show them that I should be playing.
“I’m ready to go and I’m ready to start for them.”
