Family follows Lenti through it all
By Jamie Smith
Assistant Sports Editor 

    “Hello?” says the shy young voice on the other end of the phone.

     “Hi, is coach Lenti there?” I ask.

     “Yes … “ A silence follows. I don’t realize that it is my turn to continue the line of questioning. I haven’t had a telephone conversation with a youngster in a while, and I have forgotten the process.

     “Hello?” she asks again.

     “Hi, is coach Lenti there?” I ask again.

     This time, DePaul softball coach Eugene Lenti picks up another phone in the house.

     That shy voice, which I assume belongs to Lenti’s 6-year-old daughter, Gena, is a sharp contrast to the other voice on the line, which isn’t so shy when it comes to his softball program. In fact, the elder Lenti’s voice is one of the many reasons the softball team has had so much success over the years. And despite whether or not I can function on the phone with her, Gena and her two sisters get their message out loud and clear to their dad and his squad.

     Lenti knows the elements of success. He and his team will be making their second consecutive trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City this weekend, and one doesn’t make a single trip to the WCWS without knowing the tricks of the trade-let alone go twice. To be a force in Division I takes solid pitching, and Lenti’s got that.  It takes a defense that can support that pitching, and after holding their opponents scoreless in last weekend’s regional, it’s obvious that Lenti’s got that, too. It takes an offense that consistently scores runs. Again, Lenti’s got that.

     But there’s one other element many of us never know, and it may be the most important: knowing that sports are not the end-all, be-all of the universe-that win or lose, there are more important things in life.

     Lenti has a constant reminder of this last element: his wife, Candice, and three daughters: Gena, Ali, 7, and Cati, 4, who come to the games whenever possible.

     “They keep me in perspective,” Lenti said.  “The girls view it as a fun thing, and I can always look over and see them when I start to get too wrapped up in it all.”

     They were in Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend for the regional tournament, and it was when Lenti’s daughters provided him with some pebbles that they had found around Michigan’s Alumni Field that DePaul’s fortunes turned for the better. After his girls gave him his “lucky pebbles” during the Demons’ second, against Notre Dame, Lenti’s squad scored their only run. And the rest is history.

     Those pebbles stayed with him for the rest of the tournament and his team just kept on winning. Just as those pebbles hung around for the tournament, the Lenti family tends to hang around their dad and husband whenever possible.

     Lenti works two jobs, one as the head coach of the Blue Demons and the other as a full-time dad. He works the morning shift in his office so that he can get the girls ready and off to school every day.

     “He’s a great dad,” Candice Lenti said. “His job demands a lot of time, but he still finds the time to be a great dad and spend time with his girls. He gets them ready for school every morning; from doing their hair to pouring their Cocoa Krispies.”

     The Lentis live in the Lincoln Park area, so making it up to Susan M. Wish Field for home games is no problem, but they have also been known to tag along on a road trip or two.

     “We go to all of the home games that we can,” Candice Lenti said. “And we try and go on some some of the road trips at the end of the season-we always go to regionals.”

     His family’s presence at games aids Lenti in times of frustration, but also gives him a boost. After something goes wrong in a game and Lenti is steaming in the outfield during his postgame speech to his team, it is always a relief to see Alexandria and Gena running out to the outfield after Candice sends them on a mission: Cool dad off.

     “She [Mrs. Lenti] sends them out to the outfield when he starts getting too upset,” senior Tami Bouck said. “They settle him down.”

     This upcoming weekend, Lenti will need his family at his side, and they will be there for the second straight year.

     “[The girls] would rather be in [a swimming] pool in Oklahoma than at school in Chicago,” Lenti said, laughing. “Whenever they’re coming along with us on the road, I always have to make sure that the hotel we will be staying at has a pool.”

     So, pool and all, Lenti and both of his crews will be ready to hit Oklahoma this weekend. He hopes his girls can bring him the luck and the inspiration he needs to face some of the nation’s best teams.