Jeneane Descombes Lesko (born March 28, 1935) is a former pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...

. Listed at 5' 5", 135 lb., she batted and threw left-handed

Left-handed

Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...

. She played under the name of Jeanie (or Jean) Descombes.

Born in Springfield, Ohio

Springfield, Ohio

Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...

, Descombes pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during its final two years of existence. She had no playing experience before entering the league, but she had been involved actively in the game since she was in school.

I actually had no pitching experience and had never played organized baseball... I had practiced baseball with our school team all through high school, but of course, they would not let me play in the games. I was also the batgirl for our town team of men and practiced with them and went to all the games. I loved the game and had a strong arm, she recalled in her autobiography.

AAGPBL career

Descombes joined the league in 1953 with the Grand Rapids Chicks

Grand Rapids Chicks

The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953....

. My coach and friend was 'Beansie' Risinger (pitcher Earlene Risinger

Earlene Risinger

Helen Earlene Risinger was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 6' 2", 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed....

), she said. At first, Grand Rapids manager Woody English

Woody English

Elwood George "Woody" English was an American shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for twelve seasons with the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers.- Early life :...

 let her pitch batting practice, but most of the time she had her running in the outfield, practicing until about midseason before getting her first chance to pitch. Expanding her comments about Risinger, Descombes explained that she taught her to relax and believe in herself.

In her rookie season, Descombes posted a 0-1 record with a 7.45 earned run average

Earned run average

In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 in seven relief appearances and was a member of the Champion Team, even though she did not pitch during the playoff.

In her final season of 1954, Descombes collected a 10-9 record and a 5.00 ERA in 22 appearances, tying for eight place in the league for the most wins while ending fifth in strikeout

Strikeout

In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

s (63). She also helped herself with the bat, going 7-for-39 for a .179 average.

Bill Allington All-Stars

When the league was unable to continue in 1955, Descombes joined several other players selected by former Fort Wayne Daisies

Fort Wayne Daisies

The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

 manager Bill Allington

Bill Allington

William Baird Allington was an American Minor league baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" , 160 lb., Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan....

 to play in the national touring team known as the All-Americans All-Stars. The team played 100 games, each booked in a different town, against male teams, while traveling over 10,000 miles in the manager's station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 and a Ford Country Sedan

Ford Country Sedan

The Ford Country Sedan was a full-size station wagon built by the Ford Motor Company from 1952 until 1974.It was based on the Ford full-size car line available in each year. The Country Sedan was the mid-trim station wagon in the Ford range. Unlike the Country Squire, the Country Sedan featured...

. Besides Descombes, the Allington All-Stars included players as Joan Berger

Joan Berger

Joan Berger [Knebl] is a former female infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 132 lb., Berger batted and threw right handed...

, Gloria Cordes

Gloria Cordes

Gloria Cordes [Elliott] is a former starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

, Gertrude Dunn

Gertrude Dunn

Gertrude Dunn was an American baseball player with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the league made famous by the 1992 movie A League Of Their Own. She played shortstop on two teams, the Battle Creek Belles and the South Bend Blue Sox, and was named "Rookie of the Year" in . ...

, Betty Foss

Betty Foss

Betty Foss [Fossey] was a infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 10", 180 lb., she was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She started her career as Betty Weaver but changed her last name to Foss after marrying...

, Jean Geissinger

Jean Geissinger

Jean Louise Geissinger-Harding [″Dutch″] is a former infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for the Fort Wayne Daisies and Grand Rapids Chicks...

, Katie Horstman

Katie Horstman

Catherine Horstman [″Horsey″] is a former female utility who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

, Maxine Kline

Maxine Kline

Maxine Kline [Randall] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through with the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

, Dolores Lee

Dolores Lee

Dolores Margaret Lee is a former female pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 130 lb., she batted and threw right handed....

, Magdalen Redman

Magdalen Redman

Magdalen Redman [״Mamie״] is a former catcher and utility infielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

, Ruth Richard

Ruth Richard

Ruth Richard [Richie] is a former female catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 134 lb., she batted left-handed and threw right-handed....

, Dorothy Schroeder

Dorothy Schroeder

Dorothy Schroeder [″Dottie″] was a shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 7", 150 lb., Schroeder batted and threw right-handed...

, Jean Smith

Jean Smith (baseball)

Jean Marie Smith was an outfielder and relief pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 128...

 and Joanne Weaver

Joanne Weaver

Joanne Weaver [″Joltin' Jo″] was a right fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

, among others.

Life after baseball

In 1957, Descombes earned degrees in sciences and mathematics from Ohio Northern University

Ohio Northern University

Ohio Northern University is a private, United Methodist Church-affiliated university located in the United States in Ada, Ohio, founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871. ONU is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ONU is a sister...

. Then she signed up to teach dependent children at Ramey Air Force Base

Ramey Air Force Base

Ramey Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. In addition to a small on-site Air Force detachment, and occasional operations by the Puerto Rico Air National Guard, a portion of the former Air Force Base is operated by the United States Coast Guard as Coast...

 near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

Aguadilla , founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is spread over 15 wards and Aguadilla Pueblo...

, where she stayed for four years and learned to play golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

. In 1962 she flew to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to taught girls physical education in Laon

Laon

Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...

, being transferred to Châteauroux

Châteauroux

Châteauroux is the capital of the Indre department in central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called Castelroussines or Castelroussins....

 a year later. While in France, she took golf lessons from an English professional golfer who played during Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones (golfer)

Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...

’ era. She later received an opportunity to transfer in 1965 to the Clark Air Force Base in the Philippine Islands and returned to the United States in 1967, after deciding she wanted to become a professional golfer.

Descombes spent 1968 playing golf in Grass Valley, California

Grass Valley, California

-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Grass Valley had a population of 12,860. The population density was 2,711.3 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Grass Valley was 11,493 White, 46 African American, 208 Native American, 188 Asian, 9 Pacific Islander, 419 from other...

. After establishing an excellent four handicap she joined the LPGA

LPGA

The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

. She then competed in U.S. Women's Open

United States Women's Open Championship (golf)

The United States Women's Open Golf Championship, one of thirteen national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association , is one of the LPGA's major championships along with the LPGA Championship, the Women's British Open, and the Kraft Nabisco Championship...

 tournaments at Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. Besides her baseball and golf interests, she also officiated basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 and softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

. In 2003, she started the Washington State Women’s Baseball Association and coached and served on the board during eight years. In the interim, she became a real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 agent.

In 2005 and 2006, Descombes participated in the World Series Disney World Tournament in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, as an honorary coach for the Australian Women and Girls, U11-15, baseball teams, the Aussie Hearts. In recognition of her contribution, in 2007 the Aussie Hearts sponsored her to go to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 where she conducted many clinics and showed her AAGPBL PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...

 presentation to hundreds of Aussie women ball players. By 2008 she was invited to be a guest coach for the Aussie Hearts at the US Women's Baseball Tournament, during the dedication of the opening of the Kenosha, Wisconsin

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...

 baseball field, former home of the AAGPBL Kenosha Comets

Kenosha Comets

Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but later moved to Simmons Field.The Kenosha Comets were one...

. The Aussie Hearts won the Tournament. After that, she joined the Aussies again in 2010 at the Phoenix Tournament in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, where the Hearts team claimed the gold once again.

Currently, Descombes plays on a senior softball team and spend much of her time supporting women in sports, balancing her time between her business venture, a real state school in Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...

, as well as her duties for the vision and website committees of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League#AAGPBL Players Association. The association was largely responsible for the opening of Women in Baseball, a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...

, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than individual baseball personalities. Descombes is still traveling as a supporter for the aforementioned exhibition internationally.

She is married with Thomas A. Lesko and they had three children and four great children. The family currently lives in Bellevue, Washington.

Pitching statistics

GP Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while...	W	L	W-L%	ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...	H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....	RA Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...	ER Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...	SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
29	10	9	.526	5.31	134	140	94	79	94	68

Sources