Hall of Fame
Amanda Jennings Pata, a four-year (1996-1999) member of the Wayne State softball team, has been selected for induction into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame.
She was an All-American as a senior as well as being named captain of the All-American Farm Team. A First Team All-GLIAC selection in 1999, she batted .309 while playing in all 61 contests. Jennings led that squad in home runs (13 which is still a WSU record), total bases (107), walks (15), RBI (43) and slugging percentage (.591).
In her junior year, she batted .386 with a team-leading 10 home runs, a school-record 47 RBI and a .687 slugging percentage to earn Third Team All-America, First Team All-Region, and Second Team All-GLIAC accolades.
Jennings was an Honorable Mention All-GLIAC selection in 1997 after hitting .347 with 10 doubles and three triples.
A native of Nashville, Michigan and a graduate of Hastings High School, Jennings was ranked first in career games played (225), home runs (23) and RBI (138), third in slugging percentage (.512), fourth in triples (10), total bases (328) and fielding putouts (607), fifth in runs scored (104) and fielding percentage (.966), sixth in at bats (641), hits (201) and doubles (35), eighth in walks (39) and on-base percentage (.365), and 10th in batting average (.314) at the time of her graduation from WSU.
A Presidential Scholar, she graduated in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education with majors in Unified Science and English and earned a Master of Arts in Multidisciplinary Science in 2004. She is currently working on a second post-graduate degree from WSU -- Master of Library and Information Science.
Jennings, who is married to WSU graduate Don Pata, is currently a science teacher and a softball coach at Grosse Pointe North High School.
