Jennie Finch

Jenny Finch

Jennie Finch was an amazing pitcher/player, she had an amazing high school career, which led to an amazing college career, and then went on to play professionally. She started when she was 5 years old. She learned to pitch at the age of 8. She was always very dedicated when it came to softball. Her dad made her a batting cage and a pitch-back, which she used for hours. Although Jennie played other sports, softball was still her true love.

Jennie went to La Mirade High School, she letter in softball all four years. She was a great hitter but an even better pitcher, no one could touch her pitches. During high school she had 6 perfect games. With those 6 perfect games she had staggering records of 50 wins and only 12 losses. She also had 130 no-hitters and 14 one-hitters. She struck out 785 batters in only 445 innings. As a senior she was La Mirada High School's Female Athlete of the year. She was also named to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's Softball Dream Team and named the paper's Player of the Year.

Jennie was recruited by several top universities, making it hard to choose which one to go to. She ended up choosing the University of Arizona, which had the program she was looking for. Jennie pitched and played first base. As a pitcher she pitched 5 career no-hitters and struck out 1028 batters. Winning 119 games and only losing 16, Jennie was pretty much unhittable to opposing teams. In addition to an incredible fastball she had a curveball, screwball, dropball, riseball, and changeup. Not only was Jennie an amazing pitcher, she was also a great hitter. She had 14 doubles, 21 extra-base hits, and 7 homeruns, second most homeruns on the team. Jennie set a new record her senior year with 60 straight wins with no losses.

After college Jennie played for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastball softball league. She played for them for 2005-2010, only pitching 2 perfect games. In 2003 Jennie prepared herself for the 2004 Olympics, she went 15-0 in the five months leading up to the Olympics. Jennie led the USA softball team to the gold after dominating their competition. In 2008 leading up to the Olympics, the U.S. made a journey on the Bound 4 Beijing Tour. They stopped 46 times over several months, to bring the team closer and to fine-tune their plays. As they zig-zagged across the country, Jennie and Ace, her first son, was on the road with her for most of it. With all the hard and long work Jennie and her teammates had didn't pay off like they hoped. Jennie pitched in the final game. With a heart breaking loss, her career was over.

After the Olympics in 2008 Jennie decided to end her career and focus on her family. Although she isn't playing softball anymore, she's still involved in it. With her own academy open she helps little kids improve their skills and inspire them to keep playing. Jennie Finch will always be an amazing player.