Despite being unable to wear the No. 22 jersey for the first time since she played at Bingham High, and the only Utahn on the Utah Utes’ pitching staff, Shelbee Jones stepped on the circle in relief when her team was tied 0-0 with Minnesota in Tempe, Arizona Feb. 8 in the top of the seventh. 

“Shelbee is a powerful righty pitcher who can tuck it under the hands of the hitters at a good clip,” Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. “And yet her changeup is what sets her apart from most. She throws it in any count and generally for a strike, so you can’t sleep on that pitch. She is also an infielder who hits for power, so she pretty much does it all.”

In just 53 pitches that morning in Arizona, Jones recorded her first win at the University of Utah before she’d eaten lunch. She struck out four Gopher batters, allowed one hit and walked one. The Utes’ bats warmed up enough to take a 2-0 victory over
Minnesota. 

It wasn’t the first time Jones battled a bit of adversity and won. 

When the Utes already had someone wearing that 22—sophomore outfielder Reese Lee—the freshman Jones accepted No. 17 without a peep. Perhaps she felt a bit different about it in private, but her omnipresent smile wouldn’t show that, and neither did the effervescent spirit behind Jones’ colorful shades she wears between the metal slats of her mask.  

Jones would appear twice more that February day in Arizona, and as the heat blared in the afternoon so did the runs for the other teams. All told, Jones would give up three runs apiece in six innings of work to California and Maryland, as the Utes coaches were figuring out how best they could use her many skills and talents at this preseason tournament. 

The next morning, Jones entered the circle once again in relief, wearing a different color of shades to go with her mask, entering the game against Miami [Ohio] in the top of the sixth inning. This time, her Utes were trailing 3-2. Though the Bingham Miner gave up three runs, the 5-foot-7, 155-pounder also struck out six batters. Jones’ Utes teammates provided enough help at the plate to hand her a 7-6 win—the Miner’s second win in
four tries. 

That’s how the season has been for Jones, who currently has a 6-10 overall record on the circle as a Utah pitcher. In Big 12 Conference play, however, she has a respectable 3-1 record with a 4.08 ERA. 

Jones’ skill and talents were evident well before the moment she ended her time at Bingham High. Jones’ three straight All-Region First Team awards, in addition to three more 6A First-Team All-State honors, earned the then-Bingham senior interest from several schools, including the University of Utah. 

That was her first choice—to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, attend the U, her dream school, and play for a Utes squad that reached the College World Series two
years ago. 

There was a catch. 

First, Jones would be attending Salt Lake Community College for at least one year, a dream deferred. In her first game at SLCC, Jones lost as a Bruins pitcher in January 2024. From that point forward, she only lost three more games and won 14. Jones also had a .468 batting average when playing in SLCC’s infield, helped the Bruins win the Region 18 title and was named a Second-Team All-American. 

Not long after that, the Utes announced that Jones would be joining their squad for the 2025 season, Hogue’s only in-state commit out of seven women.  

From the time Jones was a student at Summit Academy Jr. High and her softball team took first place, to when she arrived at Bingham High and led the Miners to a 6A state championship in 2023, there has always been this desire inside of her to achieve more and be more for all of her teams. 

In high school, this included Jones’ old club team SLC Elite for two years and her most recent, Utah Fastpitch Club, when she was coached by Bingham/BYU softball legend and state record-holder Tori Almond for the final two years of her high school career. 

For Jones, it’s a certainty she’s living out her dream—in real time. λ