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'''Jennie Lynn Finch''' (born September 3, 1980 in ]), or occasionally using ] ], '''Daigle''', is an American ] player who pitches for the ]. The team won the gold medal at the ] and a silver medal at the ]. Although she is listed on the roster as a ], Finch sometimes plays ]. She is regarded as the most famous softball player in history.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1834867,00.html</ref> '''Jennie Lynn Finch''' (born September 3, 1980 in ]), or occasionally using ] ], '''Daigle''', is an American ] player who pitches for the ]. The team won the gold medal at the ] and a silver medal at the ]. Although she is listed on the roster as a ], Finch sometimes plays ]. ] magazine described her as the most famous softball player in history.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1834867,00.html</ref>


==Early years== ==Early years==

Revision as of 23:07, 8 July 2010

Template:MedalTopPic

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing  United States

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Women's Softball

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#cccccc;color:inherit;" | Olympic Games

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | Gold medal – first place|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Athens 2004|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Team Competition

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | Silver medal – second place|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Beijing 2008|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Team Competition |}

Jennie Lynn Finch (born September 3, 1980 in La Mirada, California), or occasionally using her husband's surname, Daigle, is an American softball player who pitches for the USA national softball team. The team won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Although she is listed on the roster as a pitcher, Finch sometimes plays first base. Time magazine described her as the most famous softball player in history.

Early years

Jennie Finch has been playing softball since she was five years old and has been pitching since she was eight. At La Mirada, Finch lettered four times in softball and twice each in both basketball and volleyball. As a senior, she was the captain of all three sports. As a sophomore, she was an All-CIF Div. II choice in softball and an All-Suburban League selection. Her dad, Doug Finch, has been her pitching coach for most of her career. Ali Fronzen was her first pitching coach, who taught her 8 different pitches: fastball, changeup, dropball, screwball, curveball, riseball, offspeed, and four seam. Finch still uses the same pitches today.

College career

Finch played softball for the University of Arizona, where she was a three-time All-American pitcher, first-baseman and "Honda Award" winner for the Player of the Year. Her jersey number 27 (the date of her parents' first date) was retired by the University of Arizona on May 9, 2003, at Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium.

Finch recorded 24 wins in her freshman season; 29 wins in her sophomore season; 32 wins (and no losses, which set an NCAA record) in her junior season; and 34 wins in her senior season. She amassed a career total of 119 victories, 12th-most at the time. She has since been tied by Jessica Sallinger and passed by Alicia Hollowell, Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, Angela Tincher, Keira Goerl, Brooke Mitchell, Jamie Southern and Stacey Nelson.

Finch struck out a total of 1,028 batters, the 23rd most at the time.

2004 Olympics

Finch had a 2–0 win–loss record in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, striking out 13 batters in eight innings while giving up only one hit, one walk and no runs. Her pitching helped lead the American team to the gold medal.

Career

Finch signing autographs

Finch received more votes than Anna Kournikova in an ESPN online poll as the most attractive female athlete. Like Kournikova, Finch has modeled swimwear for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in 2005-06.

Finch has appeared on various talk shows promoting softball and the US Olympic Team, and hosts a segment on the TV program This Week in Baseball. Her "This Week in Baseball" segment often features her pitching to major-league baseball players, using a softball and pitching from the same distance she would in a softball game. Finch usually strikes out the baseball players by using her 71 mph riseball that is equivalent to a fastball of nearly 100 mph in baseball, where the pitcher's rubber is 17.5 feet farther away than in softball.

Finch pitches for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league. She was named the NPF's Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2005, sharing the award with teammate Lauren Bay.

Finch appeared on season one of Pros vs Joes on Spike TV.

Finch appeared on an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, which aired on December 18, 2007.

Finch was featured as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. She was fired by Donald Trump on January 24, 2008.

Personal life

Finch married Houston Astros' pitcher Casey Daigle on January 15, 2005, at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. Their son Ace Shane Daigle was born on May 4, 2006.

Career statistics

United States National Team

YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA
2001 2 0 5 2 2 2 0 17.0 1 1 1 0 23 0.41
2002 6 0 9 7 5 4 0 40.1 22 6 4 7 41 0.69
2003 7 1 11 8 5 3 1 47.2 11 4 2 6 78 0.29
2004 15 0 28 16 7 7 1 100.1 20 4 3 16 208 0.27
Olympics 2 0 2 2 1 1 0 8.0 1 0 0 1 13 0.00
2005 4 1 7 5 3 2 0 26.0 16 5 4 6 34 1.08
TOTALS 36 2 62 40 23 19 2 239.1 71 20 14 36 397 0.42

University of Arizona

YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA
1999 24 8 34 30 26 11 0 202.1 158 70 60 64 179 2.07
2000 29 2 31 24 24 13 0 194.0 102 28 22 53 204 0.79
2001 32 0 32 19 207.0 16 279 0.54
2002 34 6 43 39 36 22 1 273.1 136 46 38 82 366 0.97
TOTALS 119 16 140 64 876.2 136 1028 1.07

La Mirada High School

YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA
TOTALS 50 12 4 445.0 784 0.15

References

  1. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1834867,00.html
  2. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/hottest/female/finals.html
  3. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/swimsuit/collection/athletes/jennie_finch.html
  4. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/2004-08-09-finch_x.htm
  5. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/21/sports/highschool/calhighschool/21_51_496_20_07.txt

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded byRussia Anna Kournikova ESPN Hottest Female Athlete
2003 		Succeeded byUnited States Heather Mitts
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