University of South Dakota Athletics

Protecting home and catching thieves in the act comes naturally for Jessica Rogers, the Coyotes' senior catcher from Lincoln, Nebraska. She enjoys the art so much, she plans to follow in her father's footsteps and make a career out of it.
 
Rogers is on pace to graduate in May with a degree in criminal justice with the hopes of joining a police department. Her father, Lance, grew up in Texas, enlisted in the Air Force and is now a Nebraska state trooper. Shari, her mom, was also in the Air Force and now serves as a nurse.
 
"I was majoring in psychology, but decided I wanted to be a part of law enforcement," said Rogers, who blasted a Summit-leading 15 home runs last season. "I'm thinking about returning home and applying to join the Lincoln Police Department. I really liked their program, I know the town and I think it's a good community and place to start."
 
While most were still playing with presents during the holiday season, Rogers spent the Friday night before New Year's Day riding along with officer Alayna Kechely of the LPD.
 
"She has only been in Lincoln for a few years, but she already knows the region well and took the time to answer all of my questions," said Rogers.
 
"In Lincoln, the officers go through the whole case from start to finish. I thought that was interesting and something that would suit me personally."
 
Rogers credited USD professors Michael Roche and Sandy McKeown for sparking her interest in criminal justice and her dad for his blessing in pursuing a noble but often dangerous profession. With any luck, a class with the LPD will open up and Rogers will be able to begin the application process.
 

 
But first, there's the matter of senior softball.
Rogers and teammate Jamie Holscher are the only Coyotes in their fourth season with the program. Rogers is a two-time all-Summit honoree who earned all-region honors following a junior campaign in which she hit .376, fifth-best in the conference, with 45 RBIs. She enters her final season with 25 home runs – fifth-most in program history – and is expected to climb the Coyotes' RBI list throughout the year.
 
While last year's individual marks were amazing, it's the team success that Rogers hopes to boast about in 2019.
 
"We lost games a year ago we shouldn't have, and it showed us what we need to get better," said Rogers. "We wanted to win conference last year, but I'm not sure we knew what it truly takes to get there. We return most of our team and I think everyone knows now more of what we have to do both individually and as a team to achieve our goals."
 
Rogers was one of just six returning players on last year's team. This year's squad returns 15. The team has come together and grown closer at a faster pace than any other season under head coach Robert Wagner and the learning curve is not nearly as steep.
 
"I know a lot more about the game now than I ever did before," said Rogers. "I bought into the process and I wanted to have the swing that he was teaching us. I didn't start off well last year, but come midseason, it was going pretty good and I just kept it going."
(Apparently leading the nation in homers for an entire month is just "pretty good" by Rogers' high standards.)
 
The winning formula this year will have to include improvements in team pitching and fielding, and that is not lost on Rogers who pockets 134 career starts behind the plate. All four pitchers return for the Coyotes and three were only freshmen a year ago.
 
"Pitchers are going back to basics and working on spinning the ball more instead of just throwing it in there," said Rogers. "More movement and knowing where to pitch the ball in certain counts will help us move forward. I'm excited to see how they do in our first tournament."
 
First pitch is Feb. 8 against Dayton in a tournament hosted by Charleston Southern in South Carolina.

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