DENVER – MSU Denver has for decades been a leader in providing equal opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics.
 
Today is the 37th installment of a 52-part tribute by Roadrunners Athletics to pioneers and leaders in intercollegiate athletics at MSU Denver.

Each Thursday, a key female figure in Roadrunners athletics history will be recognized.
 
Today, softball star Jennessa Tesone is featured.
 
Tesone came on board when MSU Denver re-started its softball program in 2008 and in four seasons played for teams that were a combined 159-54, reached the 2010 national championship semifinals, played in two other Division II national tournaments, and won three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season titles.

Tesone earned All-America honorable mention honors in 2011 as well as all-region and All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference recognition. She made the NCAA Tournament's all-tournament team in 2010, and she was the MVP of the 2009 RMAC Tournament. She was also named the NFCA's National Player of the Week on May 4, 2011.

Among her exploits, Tesone cracked a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 2-1 win over Wayne State (Neb.) in the first game of the best of 3 super regional tournament in 2010, getting the Roadrunners one win away from reaching the national championship field.

She dominates the Roadrunners' record book as is the program's all-time leader in homers (56) and RBIs (191) and ranks second in program history in hits (227), and is third in runs (171). She had a .362 career batting average and she twice hit three home runs in a game.
 
Title IX, the groundbreaking law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at schools that receive funding from the federal government, went into effect just over 50 years ago – on June 23, 1972.