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(Enlarge) An overcast evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards didn't spoil the mood of Lacey Jennings as the Catonsville resident took the field as a ball girl for the Orioles. (Staff photo by Matt Roth)

Although Lacey Jennings played softball as a youngster on summer travel slow and fast-pitch squads in the Catonsville Comets' program, now she knows the real meaning of keeping her eye on the ball. If she doesn't, there could be dire consequences for her.

After all, the rising senior at Towson University will work 50 games this summer as an Orioles ball girl, one of five chosen this year after a tryout process.

"It's funny because I've never gone to any (game) and focused from the very first pitch until the very last out," said the Catonsville native, who played lacrosse, basketball and cross country at Seton Keough before graduating in 2006.

Jennings, 20, didn't allow any family members or friends to attend the tryouts that included fielding, interviewing and cheering -- she gave her best "Charge!" yell -- skills.

"I was nervous because I hadn't played softball, baseball or anything since the eighth grade," said Jennings, who received news she made the cut the next day. "When they hit you those ground balls in tryouts, it's nothing like (Orioles' center fielder) Adam Jones hitting you a ground ball."

Jennings made her debut when the Orioles hosted defending American League champion Tampa Bay April 10. The Orioles won, 5-4.

Although it was the only game she didn't field a grounder so far this season, she did have an eventful moment while perched on her stool down the right-field line when a pop fly was coming straight toward her.

"I just ran," Jennings said. "The player caught the ball and barely missed tripping over my stool. If he would have fallen, I would have been humiliated."

Jennings, who helps out in her father's Frederick Road restaurant, Jennings Café -- she jokes, "since the day I was born," -- doesn't worry about fielding miscues.

"If I make an error, or not, I laugh, regardless," she said. "I'm not getting paid $52 million a year to stop a ground ball."

What's not funny is when a screaming line drive right is headed her way, which happened in a recent game.

"I just closed my eyes and stuck my glove out," she said. "I didn't catch it, but it slammed off the wall right next to me and went out to (Orioles' right fielder) Nick Markakis."

While Jennings has always been an Orioles fan, her devotion to the team has deepened since she joined the organization.

"I know more about them now than I ever did," she said. "You have to know who is pitching that day, yesterday, tomorrow," said Jennings, who also escorts groups singing the national anthem and individuals throwing the ceremonial first pitch to the field as part of her duties.

Her bubbly personality and interest in the team have not gone unnoticed.

"Lacey has done an outstanding job as a ball girl for us this season," team public relations director Monica Barlow, said. "She is enthusiastic and is a good ambassador for the Orioles in her interactions with our fans during games."

Keeping fans, especially younger ones, happy with souvenir baseballs, is another challenge.

"Generally, I will have a kid in mind beforehand, so I'm not looking and trying to decide who to pick after I get a ground ball," she said.

Jennings has also become something of a good luck charm for the Orioles. In her first 20 games, the team won 16 of them.

Even with that string of good luck, her athletic life hasn't always been as charmed.

After earning a lacrosse scholarship to Ohio University, the school dropped the program two weeks before the spring season was scheduled to begin.

"It was frustrating, but I'm happy with where my life is right now," said Jennings, who became engaged July 4.

She left Ohio University in March 2007 and enrolled at Towson the following fall.

Jennings' only year on the Tigers' lacrosse team was a successful one as a member of the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association championship squad that earned an NCAA tournament berth.

However, lacrosse came in second to her studies.

"I wanted to focus more on my grades," said Jennings, who has a 3.7 grade-point average while majoring in communications. "Towson was tough because I was a freshman on the field and a sophomore at school. It was a really hard transition."

The transition back to an athletic environment has kept Jennings on her toes -- especially when it comes to fielding a ball with thousands of fans watching her every move.

"Now, I don't know if I'm hoping for it (ball) to come to me or hoping for it not to come to me," she said. "I was nervous at first, but everybody has been really nice."

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