Jennie Finch has been a household name in the softball circles for many years, one of the best to ever play the game.  She’s even crossed over into the baseball world with her role on This Week in Baseball, and that her husband is former Major Leaguer Casey Daigle.

My first experience with Jennie came while she was a fan for Casey’s Lancaster Jethawks in 2002.  Casey pitched Saturday night and we spotter her sitting in the stands Sunday afternoon in Modesto.  Around the fifth or sixth inning, we played, “867-5309” by Tommy Tutone as a nod to Finch who was sitting only a few rows in front of the pressbox.  In later years, I came to learn that she used that song to warm up to.  While I didn’t announce that she was in attendance, she did look up to the pressbox where I nodded to her.

We knew that she was there as a fan, not making a public appearance and we allowed her to do so.  While keeping an eye on the action, we also noted that not many people realized it was her or even recognized her, they appeared to only notice a very attractive blonde lady sitting behind home plate.

While I would go on to announce in National Pro Fastpitch several years later, I never got the chance to actually announce for Jennie Finch, though the Washington Glory did take on the Chicago Bandits several times.  When Chicago came to Washington in 2008, those NPF players who were on the US National Team were not on their NPF team’s rosters.  The Glory would move the next season and I never got that chance to play Tommy Tutone for her again.