FeedsNorthville star heads to Albion
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Northville graduate Jenna Dumbleton helped lead the Lady Mustangs to their first district title in school history as a pitcher, shortstop and two-year team captain. She will head to Albion College in the fall where she will play ball and study chemistry.Northville graduate Jenna Dumbleton walked in to the Starbucks in Northville and ordered her grande café mocha like it was business as usual.
Dumbleton, an 18-year-old superstar on the Northville varsity softball team and one of the best players to come out of the area, placed what would be one of her last orders at the downtown spot—at least for a little while.
Starting in late August she will have to shop around for another coffeehouse to serve up her chocolate-infused beverage. She’s heading to Albion College to play the game she loves and to study chemistry.
The look in her eyes says she is ready to go and the Britons should be excited to have her.
Dumbleton helped the Lady Mustangs to a 29-5 overall record and win their first district title in the school’s history this spring. She batted .420 on the season—a personal best and the second best on the team behind junior catcher Sarah Rounsifer—with 17 RBIs on 36 singles, 12 doubles and two triples.
Until she suffered a back injury this year she was a force to be reckoned with from the circle. She was still 9-0 on the season with a 1.795 ERA, striking out 59 of 210 batters despite the injury. With her back aching and teammate Allison Holmes pitching so well, Dumbleton made the move to one of her other favorite positions—shortstop. There she shored up a defense that only allowed 29 earned runs in 34 games.
“I hadn’t played shortstop since my freshman year and being back there just reminded me how much I loved it,” she said. “It was pretty good move. I’m not sure what (position) I’ll get to play at Albion but I know they didn’t graduate any seniors but I will work real hard and will play where ever they need me to.”
Dumbleton’s performances on the field earned her All-District and WLAA All-Conference honors and her accomplishments off the field earned her Academic All-State with a GPA above 3.6. The team received Academic All-State status, too.
While most athletes earn athletic scholarships to further their academic career, Dumbleton earned academic scholarships to advance her athletic career.
At Albion she earned a Trustee’s Scholarship for academics.
She didn’t initially want to go to Albion and follow in her brother’s footsteps and fall under his shadow again—like in high school—but once she took a tour of the new science center she was sold.
“I’m a dork like that,” she laughed. “But since I want to do something in science and I will spend most of my time there. I like that it is a smaller school because (the University of) Michigan was too big for me.”
Dumbleton wishes to pursue something in bio-medical engineering field. In fact, She was selected to participate in the Distinguished Albion Scholars program, where she was awarded extra scholarship money for her research presentation on tissue regeneration.
Dumbleton’s mother, Julie, said it is hard to send her daughter off to college.
“I’m also very happy for her because she’s just so ready and very excited to start college,” she said. “She was very selective as far as college choices and Albion College is the right fit for her academically. She’s also looking forward to playing softball for Coach Katie Kelly (a Salem graduate), who seems to have big plans for Jenna.”
Pressure to perform well on the field started early for Dumbleton. She started her varsity career as a freshman, playing between shortstop and pitcher.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure,” she said. “You feel like you have more to prove, because being the youngest on the team it’s like you’re there for a reason—you have to show that you deserve that spot.”
That year—her freshman season—she thought that varsity team was the best she would play on. Boy was she wrong.
“Then the next three years up until this year definitely surpasses my freshman year,” she said. “Everything about this year—the chemistry of the team and how well we played—was just phenomenal.”
Dumbleton didn’t lift the Northville Lady Mustangs single-handedly but she was a part of the team’s nucleus of talented players that led to its best season to date as a four-year varsity starter and two-year team captain.
“Jenna is a competitor,” said Northville Coach Teryn Chrzanowski. “She works hard to improve and wants to see her team succeed. She loves the game of softball and that’s why it’s exciting that she will continue playing next year at Albion.”
Dumbleton is uncertain if she will have the opportunity to start right away but she’s looking forward to spending time with her new team.
“The coach is really nice,” she said of Kelly. “I met all of the players and they made feel welcomed.”
Of course there is no rest for the wicked, or good in this case. Along with spending as much time with her family and friends before she leaves and while reading three books (“The Decameron,” “Thank You For Smoking”—to read before Albion, and “Footfree and Fancyloose,” for fun) at once, Dumbleton is in her last year playing travel ball for the Compuware U-18 team.
She spent last week at a tournament in Colorado and is usually on the road every weekend through the summer.
Dumbleton as a person and player will definitely be missed next year.
“Jenna is a very intelligent, funny, caring young woman,” Chrzanowski said. “I know that she will be successful at Albion as she is such a great athlete. She will be missed at NHS next year, but it will not be forgotten how much of an impact she’s made and what a big part she was in building this program.”
