Jessica Mendoza

Jessica Ofelia Mendoza (born November 11, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former softball player.

Currently, she serves as a color commentator and analyst for ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball and Los Angeles Dodgers coverage on Spectrum SportsNet LA.

As a softball outfielder, Mendoza was a collegiate four-time First Team All-American and two-time Olympic medalist.

Mendoza, a graduate of Adolfo Camarillo High School, was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year in 1998.

During her junior and senior years, she was named Camarillo High School's Female Athlete of the Year.

Mendoza was also a member of the high school basketball team and was the team MVP in her junior and senior years.

Mendoza attended Stanford University and played college softball for the Stanford Cardinal.

Mendoza played from 1999 to 2002 at Stanford and was a member of the United States women's national softball team from 2004 to 2010.

She began her career as a 1999 First Team All-American and All-Pac-10 Conference honoree.

Included with her recognition, she was named Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year.

She broke the Cardinal records for season batting average and runs batted in (RBIs) while ranking top-10 for her hits.

On March 6, 1999, in defeating Illinois State, Mendoza had a single-game career high four hits off pitchers Corey Harris, Tammy Millian and Jamie Bagnall.

Later that month, for the week of March 8, she was named National Fastpitch Coaches Association Player of the Week after hitting .631 (12/19) with 11 RBIs, 4 home runs, a triple and two doubles for a slugging percentage of 1.473.

As a sophomore, Mendoza again earn First Team citations for the NCAA Division I and the Pac-10.

She added conference Player of the Year to her collection and broke her own record for batting average with a then-school and career-best .474, which also led the NCAA.

She also claimed new records for hits, home runs, doubles, slugging, and stolen bases, which still rank top 10 for a season at Stanford.

From February 29 through March 22, 2000, Mendoza went on a school-record 19-consecutive-game hit streak.

She batted .561 (32/57) to accompany four home runs and 15 RBIs, striking out just once with a slugging of .842.

Mendoza continued her success for the Cardinal with her third All-American and All-Pac-10 citations.

She posted top-10 season records in virtually every category, still currently ranking second in single-season home runs and stolen bases.

Mendoza helped lead Stanford to their first-ever Women's College World Series appearance in 2001.

The Cardinal were ousted on May 27 by the Arizona Wildcats despite wins over California Golden Bears and LSU Tigers.

Mendoza was named to the All-Tournament Team for hitting .250 with an RBI and a double.

For her final season, Mendoza earned First Team citations for both conference and the NCAA.

With her fourth straight honor from the NCAA, Mendoza joined elite company as only the fifth player to accomplish the feat then.

That year she also tied her home run record and ranked top-10 in almost every other category.

The week of March 4, she was named NFCA's Player of the Week for a third time.

She had hit .647 (11/17) with a home run, five doubles, and 1.117 slugging.

She won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In 2004, Mendoza was a starting outfielder for Team USA at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Prior to the tournament, Mendoza hit .380 on the "Aiming For Athens" tour with 42 RBIs and 10 home runs.

Later that season, on May 8 with a 10–2 victory over the San Jose State Spartans, Mendoza drove in a career best six RBIs, four coming off her 50th career home-run swing with Carol Forbes pitching.

Mendoza currently holds career records in average, hits, home runs, slugging, and runs.

Her career doubles (ranked 7th in the NCAA all-time), triples, RBIs and walks are still top-10 records.

She was also named Pac-10 Player of the Week three times, a top 25 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and the Speedline Invitational Tournament MVP.

Mendoza graduated from Stanford with a master's degree in social sciences and education.

She played professionally in National Pro Fastpitch and was named 2011 Player of the Year and currently ranks in the top 10 for career batting average and slugging percentage.

Mendoza was an analyst on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball from 2016 to 2019.

She remains an ESPN baseball analyst.

Mendoza was named by fans and experts to the Greatest College Softball Team as an outfielder, one of only three to achieve the honor.