Who says girls can't play ball?

How Jennie Finch Struck Out Albert Pujols

Posted by Ross Pomeroy at Tue, 05 Nov 2013 01:06:10, RealClearScience.com

To so-called "manly men," getting beaten by a girl can be a cause for consternation. That's probably why a lot of professional baseball players avoid Jennie Finch.

Standing a mini but mighty inch over six feet tall, the golden-haired Finch is an imposing sight, especially to the hitters she faces on the softball diamond. Finch, perhaps the best softball pitcher to ever play the game, originally roared to fame when she anchored the United States to a gold medal victory at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Since then, she's kept busy, leading the U.S. to a silver medal in 2008, starring in numerous television shows, and getting married. She's also been making a whole lot of venerable MLB hitters look absolutely silly. The most memorable of these dress-downs occurred at the 2004 Pepsi All-Star Softball Game, Finch struck out future Hall of Fame slugger Albert Pujols, two-time All Star Brian Giles, and future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza, who took his leave from the batter's box in shameful one-two-three fashion.

"I never touched a pitch," Giles readily admitted. "Her fastball was the fastest thing I've ever seen, from that distance. It rises and cuts at the same time."

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