Softball farewell: Jennie Finch announces retirement

1. Jennie Finch owns a flamethrower. Well, not literally (we think it might actually be illegal to own one of those), but we're referring, of course, to her rather incendiary right arm. A three-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist (gold in Athens, silver in Beijing), she posted a 0.00 ERA, allowing just three hits in 19 innings, with four walks and 27 strikeouts in her Olympic career.

2. MLB All-Stars (past and present) have nothing on her. In Feb. 2004, Finch took the hill against major league hitters in the Pepsi All-Star Softball Game and struck out Albert Pujols and Mike Piazza, in addition to the Giles brothers, Brian and Marcus.

3. Should she decide to embark on a television career, she has already set down a solid foundation. That would be from her 2008 run as a Donald disciple on The Apprentice, not to mention her work as a Women's College World Series color commentator and as a correspondent for This Week in Baseball.

4. She still has plenty of petrol left in the competitive tank. In addition to being named USA Softball's Player of the Year in 2009, Finch - who hit 50 home runs at the University of Arizona and once had nine RBI in a game - became the first woman to homer in the MLB Legends and Celebrities Softball Game over the All-Star break.

5. We have not heard the last of the Finch family. Not only did her father invent a rather popular baseball training tool known as the Finch Windmill, and not only is her husband, Casey Daigle, known to get the occasional cup of latte in the major leagues, but the two also happen to have a son, currently 4 years old.

Kid goes by the name of Ace.