Back in her fun zone.

Byline: Shawn Miller The Register-Guard

As they sat down for dinner, Sari-Jane Jenkins heard her mother open up as only a mother can.

Distraught and annoyed by another loss in an inconsistent softball season, the Oregon junior listened to the maternal advice as the restaurant buzzed around her. The people who walked by their booth were nothing more than a blur as Jenkins' focus was on her mother's words. As tough as it was to hear, the message sank in: Jump higher.

Jenkins, a three-year starter on the Oregon softball team, had lost that spark as she ran off the field each time. She continued to jump over the foul line on her way to the dugout, but the playfulness of the superstition had disappeared. Jenkins no longer leapt across the foul line, a routine that captured the attention of more than just her teammates.

While her performance on the field was the same, the left fielder's demeanor outside the lines had changed. The so-called instigator of fun was no longer brimming with energy, and the first sign was her body language as she jogged off the field between innings.

"When my mom called me out on that, I felt like I let my team down," Jenkins said. "That really turned a lot around for me, because I want to be the teammate that goes out and has that positive vibe, that positive energy that gets everyone going."

Since that wake-up moment nearly two months ago, Jenkins' passion for the fun of the game has been re-ignited. Now, when she leaves the field, Jenkins hops over the foul line higher than ever in an effort to not only be with her teammates but to energize the squad for the upcoming at-bats.

However, that foul line determines more than just fair and foul, and it goes beyond just a silly superstition. When she crosses it heading toward left field, it flips an internal switch that allows the junior to exert her competitive side, which is second to none.

That competitive streak flared up during team workouts before the season opener. When the Ducks were split into two teams for a five-game series in January, more than just pride was on the line. The losers had to buy ice cream sundaes for the winning squad, and in no way was Jenkins going to be serving a teammate, she said.

But her team lost the fifth and deciding game, and good friend Joanna Gail, a senior third baseman whose team won, knew exactly the buttons to push at the team gathering that weekend.

"She made me like scoop it up, put sprinkles on it," Jenkins said. "I gave it to her and didn't talk to her the rest of the night, got over it a couple weeks later."

Jenkins, who has committed only two errors this season, doesn't take mistakes very well. However, after that third out of every inning, her energy and excitement build as she gets closer to the dugout.

"She's hilarious," Gail said. "She's such a serious hard worker and intense player. Then you see her sprinting in and she just kinda leaps over the line."

The superstition began in high school, although Jenkins doesn't know why. And to her, it really isn't a big deal. It's just a routine."

"I don't even really expect people to notice," Jenkins said. "I don't do it to entertain the crowd. It's more just my personal thing."

However, she does like to entertain onlookers, in particular her teammates. It begins with dance routines with former teammate and current graduate assistant Suzie Barnes.

"If she starts it, she knows I'll finish it. Or if I start it, I know she'll finish it," Barnes said. "We do some guitar action sometimes, a little air guitar. Britney Spears is always a favorite.

"Sari is definitely an initiator of a lot of stuff. One thing starts flying then generally everyone else just picks up on it and carries it from there."

And there's re-enacting scenes from funny movies - a favorite is "Dumb and Dumber." Not to mention the chest bumps during player introductions, meant to mock the players who take chest bumping seriously.

"Sari brings some of the energy and some of the humor in there, and just kind of takes some of the stress down from the nerves and reminds us all to have fun," Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen said.

Evidently, fun is working as Oregon (31-22 overall, 3-11 Pac-10) has won back-to-back games for the first time in more than two weeks. Despite sustaining a severely bruised left calf muscle at practice on Thursday, Jenkins said she'll not only be on the field for today's game against No. 8 Stanford at 4 p.m., but she intends to play and enjoy each of the Ducks' seven remaining regular-season games. And nothing is more fun than winning and breaking records in the process.

Oh, yeah. Jenkins broke the UO career steals record midway through the season, but she didn't learn about it until last week. She said she was enjoying softball too much to look at the numbers.

Thanks, mom.

PAC-10 CONFERENCE SOFTBALL

Oregon vs. Stanford: 4 p.m. today at Howe Field