Celebrate Women's History Month with Big Train: Kelliann Jenkins

Nearly six years after her historic Big Train debut, Kelliann Jenkins remains an inspiration to young baseball stars.

(Kelliann Jenkins, 2019)

For Kelliann Jenkins, her journey to baseball notoriety began as a child, watching Yankees games with her dad.

“I didn’t see any girls on the TV, and I remember I was so shocked,” Jenkins said.

Now, nearly six years after becoming the first woman to play in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, Jenkins said she looks back fondly on that season. “I genuinely think playing for Big Train was the highlight of my career,” she said.

Jenkins’ collegiate baseball tenure was nothing short of groundbreaking. She pitched for St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Chatham University, becoming the first female pitcher to earn a win in NCAA history. On July 19, 2019, Jenkins made her Big Train debut, firing a scoreless fourth inning and contributing to an eventual 9-7 victory over the Gaithersburg Giants. For Jenkins, that season was a milestone in another way as well.

“I felt like, my whole career, I was following my older brother,” she said. “With Big Train, they didn’t even know who my older brother was, and so I felt like I had truly earned that position. Not saying that I didn’t earn the ones before, but I just felt like playing for the Big Train, it really was just my stats and nothing else that got me to the next spot.”

Still, Jenkins faced other obstacles along the way. She said it was a struggle to play against opponents who were stronger and faster than she was.

“The physical challenges were probably the hardest,” she said.

Before her college career, Jenkins played at St. John’s College High School, a highly competitive baseball program at the time. She cited stiff high school competition as a major factor in preparing her for the college game, where she made 14 career appearances in addition to two outings with Big Train.

Another motivating element was her presence as a role model for younger female athletes.

“It helped me move forward and continue my career knowing that there were younger girls looking up to me,” Jenkins said.

The biggest lesson from her career as a whole? “You’ve got to be assertive,” Jenkins said. “You can’t be self-pitying. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to be more assertive in this world to go after what you want.”

Nearly three years after the conclusion of her playing days, Jenkins remains heavily involved in the baseball sphere. She is entering her second season as the head pitching coach at Jackson-Reed High School, and she said she wants to go into sports psychology and find a way to mix that with coaching. As a coach, she recalled mentoring one particular female baseball player on the importance of self-confidence and assertiveness.

“I was just coaching this all-girls baseball team, and [one girl] was reading me this email that she had sent to one of her coaches,” Jenkins said. “It was kind of like, ‘I just want to let you know ahead of time that I’m a girl, and I understand if that’s going to be a problem for the team.’”

“I was like, ‘No, don’t say that, don’t even mention that you’re a girl,’” Jenkins said. “‘Just say, “I’m trying out for the team, I’m coming tomorrow, please let me know if there’s anything else I need to know.”’ I think that the confidence and ... self-assertiveness [were] the biggest character traits that I learned along the way that I’m most thankful for.”

Jenkins said moving to coaching was a natural transition from a lifetime working at Kidball Baseball, her parents’ youth sports organization in Potomac, Maryland. At Jackson-Reed, her experience paid off: In her first year as the pitching coach for the Tigers, the team won the DCSAA baseball title on a walk-off. “I feel like that one game kind of emulated our whole season,” Jenkins said. “I kind of set a challenge for [the pitchers] at the beginning, and they really rose to it.”

Through it all, Jenkins said her experience with the program so far has been wholeheartedly positive. “These are such good kids,” she said. “I’m so grateful that I was able to join a program where these kids ... already respect me and what I have to say.”

Now, as Jackson-Reed enters the 2025 season, Jenkins is making considerable efforts to continue the team’s success. Despite emerging victorious last year, she said the school’s coaches have emphasized the risks of complacency.

“My main thing is, ‘Don’t get comfortable,’” Jenkins said. “I don’t believe there’s been a team to win states back-to-back ever in the history of [this league], and so I want them to be the first. I think this team is capable of being the first to do that. ... We’ve got to be a little bit harder on them, especially early in the season.”

Since childhood, Jenkins has held an unwavering passion for the game of baseball. At this stage in her journey, she emphasized her desire to remain around the sport, particularly in the coaching realm.

“What I’ve learned most is that this is a passion of mine, just kind of staying around the game, and so I think that’s what I’ll continue to do,” she said. “I love [coaching], and I want to find a way to continue doing it throughout my career.”

(Kelliann Jenkins, Assistant Coach; Courtesy of Jackson Reed Tiger Athletics)