Jennie Finch

Jennie and the gold medal (http://www.jenniefinch.net/)

“This girl can throw up to 70 miles an hour and has had a 60 game winning streak.” Some of you might know her as Jennie Finch and she is my hero. She has reached out to many people and especially young women. She has reached out to us because of her great accomplishments by being a gold medalist. She has shown everybody all over the world that girls can play softball.

Jennie in her Arizona Uniform (http://www.jockbio.com)

She was born September 3, 1980, in La Mirada, California. She started playing baseball when she was only five years old. That is when she joined her first select team called L’il Miss T-ball. She was good all over the diamond but one thing caught her parent’s eye the most and that was her arm. By the time that she was eight, her father built a batting cage in the backyard for her to practice in. Then by the age nine she was traveling every weekend with her all-star select team. By the age of twelve her dad decided to be her very own coach. When she was on the 14-under team they captured the national trophy. That following day, she waited in a long line to get Dot Richardson’s autograph hoping to be an Olympic champ herself one day.

Jennie playing around on the feild (http://people.famouswhy.com)

In high school she was unstoppable. She was on Varsity as a freshman and impressed many people. By the end of her high school career, she was 50-12 with 6 perfect games. She pitched 445 innings and struck out 784 hitters. She also had 13 no-hitters. After this accomplishment she had the choice to go anywhere, but she chose Tucson, Arizona. Again, she made an unforgettable appearance as a freshman. She had 24 victories, tying the school record. Coming back in as a sophomore in nine games they only gave up seven runs and that is just in 54 innings. Ending that year on the Pac-10 first team and had 16 homeruns.

One of the posters of Jennie (http://www.softballoutlet.com)

After she finished at Arizona it was time to start making a dent in the softball career. In 2002 Coach Mike Candrea offered Jennie a spot on the Olympic team. Even though the Olympics were still two years away. That same year she went to the ESPY Awards where she met the love of her life, Casey Daigle. Being on the Olympic team she brought many victories to them. One of the stories that Jennie likes to tell is that “one girl held up her cat and asked her to sign it she stared at it, oddly but then the girl said, “ I named it Finch.”

Jennie pitching (http://www.usatoday.com)

After her marriage, that is when every thing started to happen for her. A big sporting goods manufacturer decided to bring out her line of cleats, gloves, and bats. Then in 2006 they tried to cut softball from the summer Olympics but she brought out title nine. Also in 2006 she had her first child Ace. She has been a hero to many of us especially me. She has taught me to go after my dreams because if you believe and you want it enough you will achieve it.