Jennie Finch

By Kristina Bilyeu

The Beginning
Jennie Lynn Finch was born on September 3rd, 1980 Born in La Mirada, California Started playing softball at the age of 5 and started pitching when she was 8 Was a bat girl for the University of California, Los Angeles Was captain of the softball, volleyball and basketball team for La Mirada High School

College
Finch played softball for University of Arizona Three-time All American pitcher and first baseman Two-time winner of the Honda Sports Award In 2001, Finch set a new NCAA record by winning her 51st consecutive win, she ended up with 60 consecutive wins, breaking Rebecca Aases record in 1993 In Finchs career in college softball, she struck out 1,028 batters

2004 Olympics
Finch had a 2-0 win-loss record in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics Struck out 13 batters in 8 innings Gave up one hit, one walk, and no runs Her pitching helped lead the USA team to the gold medal

2008 Olympics
Finch began pitching and won 11-0 against Venezuela Finch pitched 5 shutout innings against Chinese Taipei and won 7-0 She then pitched 2 more shutout innings against China and won 9-0 The USAs last game against Japan was a loss, 3-1

National Pro Fastpitch

Finch played for the Chicago Bandits of the NPF softball league She was named NPFs co-pitcher of the year in 2005, sharing award with teammate Lauren Bay

Personal Life
Jennie Finch married profession baseball player Casey Daigle on January 15th, 2005 Finch has a son named Ace who was born on May 4th, 2006 and their expecting another child in June of this year Finchs favorite team in the LA Dodgers

Retirement
On July 20, 2010, Finch announced she was retiring from softball to focus on her family In her final start with the US National Team, she struck out 12 and only allowed 3 singles, 2 of them infield She continued playing with the Chicago Bandits until the NPF softball season ended in August

Legacy
Finch has become the most dominant and recognizable softball player of her era Along with her pitching, her beauty and charm landed her in the mainstream to become a pop culture icon