Former UTSA standout Jessica Rogers is in her third season as an assistant coach. She guides the team's hitters and infielders.
The best power hitter in Roadrunners history, Rogers wasted no time in bringing some pop back to the UTSA bats.
In each of her first two seasons, the Roadrunners have led Conference USA in home runs, while the team also has ranked among the nation’s top 10 for homers per game. During that time four student-athletes have combined for six all-conference honors, including four first-team certificates, and the program has produced its first National Pro Fastpitch player as Megan Low was drafted by the Akron Racers in 2015.
UTSA also has taken care of business in the classroom and community, as evidenced by three C-USA All-Academic Team certificates to go along with a C-USA Scholar Athlete Award (Megan Low, 2015) and C-USA Spirit of Service Award (Megan Low, 2014).
Last season, UTSA set four school records and had five more individual marks tied or broken. The team records included on-base percentage (.403), triples (16) and walks (190) for the offense, while the pitching staff allowed its fewest amount of doubles ever. Individually, Low set the career and single-season walks records and Randee Crawford set the single-game (eight) and tied single-season standards for RBIs (64). Kendall Burton set the single-season triples mark with seven as she came one three-bagger short of tying the school’s career record in just one campaign.
In all, UTSA led C-USA in eight offensive categories and ranked no worse than third in four more. The team’s 85 homers were its most since 2005, while the Roadrunners blasted 1.57 round-trippers per game to rank ninth in the nation. The extra offense helped the squad to a 12-game improvement in the win column and the program’s most victories since 2006. Crawford’s league-leading 19 homers and 64 RBIs helped her earn first-team All-C-USA honors along with Low, who became just the second player in program history to take home at least three first-team all-conference laurels. Meanwhile, Burton paced the conference and ranked eighth in the nation in triples en route to second-team all-conference and All-Freshman Team honors.
Under Rogers’ tutelage, Low made the transition from catcher to first base in her final two seasons and played the position for the first time in her career. She went on to record a .988 fielding percentage at first base and collected a pair of first-team all-conference honors.
Rogers came to the Alamo City after serving three years as an assistant at Idaho State.
While with the Bengals, Rogers coached 17 All-Big Sky performers, including two Big Sky Player of the Year honorees and a Freshman of the Year winner. After being picked to finish last in the league, Idaho State finished with its first winning mark since the program resumed in 2007 and claimed the inaugural Big Sky regular-season title.
With Rogers in charge of the position players and hitters, the Bengals finished among the nation’s best in slugging percentage (5th/.552), home runs per game (7th/1.50) and batting average (8th/.329). Vicky Galasso earned Big Sky Player of the Year honors and finished sixth in slugging percentage (.876), seventh in batting average (.461) and 10th in RBIs per game (0.35).
Prior to her time in Pocatello, Idaho, Rogers was an assistant coach at St. Edward’s (2008-09) and was a volunteer assistant for the Roadrunners (2007-08).
As a player, Rogers rewrote the UTSA and Southland Conference record books.
One of just two players in program history to have their jersey retired, she was a three-time NFCA All-Region honoree (2004-05, ’07) and four-time first-team All-Southland pick along with Southland Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year laurels in 2005. She still owns school records for career runs (169), hits (281), home runs (69) and RBIs (192) and single-season marks for homers (23/2005) and RBIs (64/2005). Her career marks for round-trippers and RBIs also are Southland records, while her career .384 batting average ranks second in school history.
In addition to her work on the field, Rogers was recognized multiple times for her achievements in the classroom. The Grand Prairie native was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American First Team in 2005 and Third Team in 2007, as well as being a three-time first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI selection (2005-07). She was named Southland Softball Student-Athlete of the Year three times (2005-07) and was one of 20 national finalists for the 2007 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Rogers was an eight-time UTSA Dean’s List honoree.
Rogers earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in December 2006 and her master’s degree in August 2008, both at UTSA.