North Kitsap's Jordan Jewett heads to North Carolina on D-I softball scholarship

POULSBO — She’s been described by her future Division I coach as quick on the bases and a spark plug on the field.

She’s also one of the best softball players to play in North Kitsap.

She’s made the all-county and Narrows League first team two years in a row. She was invited to play in the North versus South all-star game, the state-wide senior all-star game, and was selected to play for the elite Washington Lady Hawks Gold team. As a junior, her batting average was the second highest in the league at .520. As a senior she improved on that and hit a .570.

Jordan Jewett, a North Kitsap High School 2008 graduate, shines brighter than the diamond she plays on.

So bright she’s been offered a scholarship to play for the North Carolina Greensboro Spartans.

“She’s a very hard player. She’s a player in play or not in play you take notice of. She’s a leader on and off the field. She’s just a tough little player and I like that in her,” said Spartans head coach and Jordan’s future coach Jennifer Herzig. “She will definitely deepen our lineup immediately. I’m absolutely very excited about her.”

Jordan began her stellar outfielder and slugger career in her backyard. She and her younger brother spent several summers playing Wiffle Ball homerun derby.

“We’d go for hours just trying to out homerun each other. We’d be in the backyard and that’s all we’d do,” said the self-described competitor. “Even when I had friends over that’s what we’d do, just five hours of Wiffle Ball would entertain us.”

Jordan beat her brother, and the times he won were “very rare.”

Jordan’s father Stan Jewett said they had a batting cage in their backyard for eight years and Jordan used to hit baseballs with her brother.

Jewett said Jordan’s a juggernaut and naturally gifted athletically. She’s always been that way. Jordan studied karate until she was 10 and earned her black belt.

“She beat most of the boys,” Jewett said. “I knew she was going to be a tough girl.”

He just didn’t know how tough, but he soon learned when Jordan was a fourth-grader at Vinland Elementary.

He received a call informing him Jordan had been hurt on the monkey bars. When he arrived he could see a tear in her eye. She never cried, so he knew she must have been hurt.

She was.

“I could see her arm was hanging down a half foot lower than the other and her collar bone was busted,” he said. “She wasn’t even crying. She just sat there and said, ‘Daddy it hurts.’ She’s pretty impressive as far as her pain threshold.”

She’s also pretty impressive when it came to mastering softball.

As a fifth-grader Jordan played official softball for the first time. She joined a North Kitsap Little League team.

She played for two years and made the all-star team both years.

“She could hit good and run really fast. My dad used to always say, ‘she runs and catches like a boy,’ ” Jewett said. “She always seemed like she was the best kid on the field. But, of course, I’m the dad.”

Next Jordan was selected for the Ravens, a select team of seventh- and eighth-graders.

Jordan continued to progress and move through the ranks of select Kitsap County teams before playing varsity ball for the Vikings.

During her stint as a Viking she was also chosen to play for the Lady Hawks, which is a huge accomplishment in itself.

“This is a team that makes sure all the seniors are signed by a college. It’s a win and get you to the next step team,” Jordan said. “If you’re on this team you’re known throughout the U.S. When you go to tournaments everyone knows the Washington Lady Hawks. I was very fortunate to be chosen.”

She’s the only North Kitsap girl on the team.

Jordan’s in her second year playing for the team that finished ninth at nationals last year.

This summer she’s traveled all over the United States — Colorado, New Jersey, Alabama, Indiana, California and Oregon — playing in tournaments with the Hawks.

During her travels in New Jersey with the Hawks last summer before her senior year is where Herzig took notice.

“She was very energetic and played tough,” Herzig said of the moment she spied Jordan.

Last summer at a 20 team tournament in Colorado coached by college coaches, Jordan was chosen as one of the best 50 players to play in a best of the best all-star game, which was televised.

When asked how she became such a standout player Jordan played her humility card.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve put in my time by working at everything and not giving up or hanging my cleats. Practice pays off I believe.”

She practices year-round, three times a week for three-and-a-half hours with the Hawks. She trains for an additional four hours a week on her own.

Jewett said the same thing. He said when Jordan was 5 she exhibited great speed and eye hand coordination.

“Maybe she was born with it,” he said. “I don’t know of any hitting slumps that lasted long. She’d go do extra practices or call her coach.”

Jordan and her father fly to North Carolina on Aug. 19. Classes start Aug. 28 and practice begins Sept. 4.

Jordan plans to study sport and exercise science at first, as she’s always been interested in the field, but has four years to decide.

She’s excited and said she’s going to North Carolina without any fears and just wants to stay positive. The school is a perfect fit for her — she knew this when she visited last fall — so she made a verbal commitment.

Playing college ball has been a dream of hers since she was a child.

In elementary school she wrote a paper on her dream job, which was to play college ball at the University of Washington. She didn’t know at the time playing college athletics wasn’t a job.

She still has the paper, and read it a month ago.

“I’ll look at that paper with my messy handwriting and it’s a self accomplishment,” Jordan said. “I’ve wanted to do this for 10 years and now I get to.”

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