That may have been just as well, considering that along with Japanese bullet trains and Greek ancient ruins, the world includes such spots as dingy dugout bathrooms. The latter was where she found herself at a low ebb during the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic, having sought the dank, dim redoubt to hide her tears of frustration from her USA teammates who were in the dugout beyond.
The United States was rolling through the competition in the tournament, per usual in regional events that didn't include rivals such as Japan or Australia, but Mendoza couldn't scratch out a hit. It was her third year with the team, but none had been Olympic years. With the roster for Athens 2004 expected to be announced not long after the Pan Am Games, she feared she would miss out. She wasn't sure she even belonged on the team, which only made matters worse for her at the plate. The more at-bats that went by without reward, the more she doubted.
Despite admitted insecurities, Jessica Mendoza was still a force with her bat during her first season with Team USA in 2001.
All of which left her to share that bathroom with an enormous cockroach that did a poor impersonation of Jiminy Cricket. It couldn't, all things considered, have gotten any worse. Which is the moment it started to get better. How, she wondered, had a chance to play the game morphed into the absurdity of hiding from it in that moment?
"It just made me realize I am better than this; I do deserve to be here," Mendoza recalled. "I promised myself I was never going to let myself get to that low a point, where I doubt myself that much. I'm always going to enjoy this game because that's why I play. I play to really love it, regardless of how I'm doing, regardless if I make an Olympic team.
"And at that point, I just started to embrace more of the pressure instead of freaking out and doubting myself."
But she made the team, of course, and more than a decade later, one of the best players in the sport's history has decided to stop hitting. Mendoza, 33, is retiring from active competition. She most recently played for the USSSA Pride in National Pro Fastpitch in 2012. She sat out the 2013 season while pregnant with her second son, Cayden.
"Softball has taken me further than I could have ever imagined," Mendoza said.
She is a favorite of mine, have seen her doing "commentary" on a lot of games. I hope she continues doing that. She is classy, knowledgeable and a find athlete
