Right place, right time, right player: RR's Tenorio commits to EFSC softball

RIO RANCHO — On Monday, Sept. 22, Rio Rancho High School softball’s Jordyn Tenorio announced her college commitment to Eastern Florida State College.

“I got recruited as a catcher and a utility player,” Tenorio said. “When I had gone on my visit, I just loved the area; I love the place. I love the coaches. Everything about it is just exactly what I asked for in a school. I really loved everything about it.”

Planning to continue her athletic and academic career in the Sunshine State, this decision is a true culmination of hard work over her high school career. Last season, Tenorio made the NMAA District 1-5A second team.

But while the Rams’ senior has put together quite the high school career, she pinpoints her path to EFSC to one specific game with her club team.

“We had gone to this tournament in Colorado. It’s a really, really big tournament,” Tenorio said. “It really was a little random because we were playing a game, and the coach who recruited me, he said that he was just walking along in between two games that he was scheduled to watch, and he had started watching our game, and I was playing shortstop during that game. I had made a good play, and he just said that I stood out to him. And so I talked to him after the game, and he told me he was interested in me.”

This butterfly effect on the diamond has not only turned Tenorio from a Ram into a Titan, but has stamped another Tenorio ticket to the college softball scene.

Coming from a proud Native American background, from the Acoma and Santa Domingo Pueblos, Jordyn will be following in the footsteps of her sister Labraida, who is currently a pitcher at Western New Mexico University.

Both sisters made district teams in their time at Rio Rancho High School, as the program is familiar with sending talent to the next level.

“I think high school has also prepared me a lot,” Tenorio said. “My coach, Paul (Kohman), is a very hard-working guy, and he definitely pushes us to be the best we can be. During practice, during games. He’s very straightforward with you, but it’s all to get you better. And I think he pushes us a lot in that way, just preparing to be at the next level.”

Tenorio’s recruitment story may have been spur-of-the-moment, but playing college softball was always at the forefront of her mind.

“I think it always was the plan to play at the next level,” Tenorio said. “For my club team that I play on — I play with the New Mexico Sundancers — And I have been on the team for a while, since I was like 11. The whole program is meant to get you to the next level.”

College decision out of the way, Tenorio is ready for one last dance at the high school level with the Rams this spring, where you can expect to see nothing but energy and hustle from her behind the plate and in the outfield.

“I think what has worked for me is just being very energetic and always playing to the best of my ability,” Tenorio said. “Because you really never know who’s watching you; it could be a random play. That’s exactly how I got recruited. It was just some random play. At a certain time, a coach walked up, and now I’m committed. I think you just, you really have to give all your effort all the time.”