Hansen: Jennie Finch was perfect on way to 2001 WCWS title

At 12, Jennie Finch pitched the 12-and-under California Cruisers to the ASA national championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At 14, she did it again, for that age group.

Once she entered La Mirada High School in the Los Angeles area , Finch was probably the top female athlete in American prep sports, or if not, she was close. She was the captain of La Mirada’s volleyball and basketball teams, and the No. 1 pitching recruit in high school softball.

“If she had never thrown a pitch in her life, she still would’ve been a top prospect as a hitter,” UA coach Mike Candrea once told me. Indeed, Finch hit 16 homers and batted .335 while playing first base part-time as an Arizona sophomore.

Even though Finch went 29-2 that sophomore season (2000), winning her final eight games, few had any idea she would soon reach an entirely higher level in 2001. Or that there even was a higher level.

In 2001, Finch went 32-0 with a 0.54 ERA and 19 shutouts. She pitched Arizona to its first Women’s College World Series championship since 1997 and extended her winning streak to 40 games.

In the title game, against No. 2 UCLA, a team with a 62-5 record, Finch was so good that the Bruins’ first four hitters in the lineup went 1 for 13.

“We had our key hitters up,” said UCLA coach Sue Enquist. “I got the feeling we were going to bust out and get it done. I felt so good about it — but we just couldn’t get to Jennie.”

Arizona won 1-0. Finch was the most dominant player in softball, winning the Honda Award, the equivalent to football’s Heisman Trophy. No other pitcher before (or since) had gone more than 29-0 in a season.

The Wildcats went 65-4 in ’01. Some insist it was the best of Candrea’s eight national championship clubs, better than the 64-3 team of 1994 and superior to the 61-5 squad of 1997.

“It’s a good debate, and for me it’s a very fun topic,” said Candrea. “But we’ll never know. I wouldn’t want to face any of them.”

Finch, third baseman Toni Mascarenas, catcher Lindsey Collins and outfielder Nicole Giordano made the All-WCWS team, but it was Finch’s team and Finch’s year.

When she returned as a senior in 2002, she was told she needed 11 victories to break former Florida State pitcher Rebecca Aase’s NCAA record of 50 consecutive wins.

“I’m like, ‘What?’” Finch told the Star. “What’s the record?”

Finch broke the record, winning No. 51 at the championship of the Wildcat Invitational in late February 2002. A capacity crowd of 2,652 squeezed into the ballpark on a Sunday afternoon.

“I could say that there wasn’t, but I’d be lying,” Finch said of the pressure. “Hearing it from the media and the fans constantly, there was added pressure. But once I got onto the mound, I didn’t even think about it.”

After the game, the crowd chanted “51! 51! 51!” over and over.

Six weeks later, Finch’s streak reached an unthinkable 60 consecutive victories, which simultaneously gave Arizona a 70-game winning streak at Hillenbrand Stadium.

The 60th victory was among the best of her 119-16 UA career; it came against No. 1 UCLA on April 6, 2002, at Hillenbrand. She had not lost in 101 weeks.

When the streak was broken, against UCLA (who else?), Finch got past it quickly.

By late May, Arizona was back in Oklahoma City attempting to win back-to-back national titles. Finch pitched 1-0 shutouts in OKC, beating Arizona State and Nebraska, and was 34-5 entering the championship game. But Cal’s Jocelyn Forest pitched a one-hitter to power the Bears to the title and end Finch’s remarkable UA career.

Where are they now? Finch, who turns 36 in September, is married to former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Casey Daigle and lives in Louisiana. They have three children. She travels around the country giving softball clinics and making public appearances.

How she did it: Finch’s windmill-type pitching motion was created with the help of her father, Doug, who invented the Finch Windmill, a pitching, throwing and shoulder exercise device.

It was Finch’s windmill motion that made the ball so difficult for opposing batters to see, especially at about 65 to 68 mph, which was the speed of her average fastball.

In 2005, at the Pepsi Celebrity All-Star Game near Los Angeles, she struck out St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, Mets catcher Mike Piazza and several other MLB hitters. No one hit a fair ball. She later pitched to Barry Bonds at the San Francisco Giants’ spring training camp. In 12 pitches, Bonds made contact just once, a dribbler foul.