The Finch Report

             As recently as three days ago, if you had asked Clare what she thought of softball star Jennie Finch, her answer would have been, Not much.  That all changed over the weekend.

            Clare worked Finch’s softball camp, held at the Chicago Bandits’ dome facility; it pays to be a former Bandit, and it doesn’t hurt when your former player has the last name of Finch.  Anyway, I can report in true TMZ fashion that Jennie Finch is a…really nice person!  Seriously.

            For openers, she told Clare she had beautiful blue eyes, and she actually thanked my daughter for pitching in, so to speak.  She was fine with pictures where people weren’t paying for the privilege, and, over the course of three days, she didn’t snap at any underling.  Impressive, to say the least.

            I drove Clare to the camp on Sunday.  It was 8 AM, and mothers were getting off the L with their daughters for a full day of instruction; other mothers were in the parking lot, rousing their charges from out of the back of the family SUV.  Camps like this aren’t really about learning but seeing: What does a professional woman athlete look like?  Oh, her.  She’s pretty and nice.  I can be like that, too.  A ten-year old comes away feeling that way, and it’s worth the $175 fee.

            Clare spent two days assisting Crystl Bustos, Finch’s former teammate on the U.S. National Team.  Bustos was a great power hitter, so, obviously, she talked hitting.  She’s an imposing presence and probably a little intimidating.  It helped that Clare could take what Bustos said about swing mechanics and break it down for the middle-school crowd.  A number of parents thanked her for doing so.

            Like my daughter, I have mixed feelings about Jennie Finch, though for reasons other than that age-old rivalry between pitchers and hitters.  I just wonder if she ever wanted to pitch in the big leagues.  Yes, Jennie Finch could strike out baseball players trying to hit a 12-inch softball.  What about striking them out with a baseball?  That would have been interesting.

            The high point of the weekend for Clare was shagging flys; Jennie Finch hit one to her.  What was it like? I asked.  “Well, you could tell she’s not a hitter.”

             Spoken like the all-time homerun hitter for Elmhurst College softball.