GossipMan

Allright Jennie is a hot babe.. link to her pic
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/ne..._mlb&fext=.jsp

Softball star Jennie Finch will host a new segment on This Week in Baseball, the weekly 30-minute television show which airs prior to the MLB FOX Saturday Game of the Week.

Finch will become the first female correspondent in the program's history. Her segment will be called "Pitch, Hit & Run with Jennie Finch," and will focus on baseball fundamentals and strategies. Different Major League players will appear on the segment with her each week.

Some of the Major League players who will be on Finch's segments this season include: Alex Rodriguez, Mike Cameron, Richie Sexson, Troy Percival, Randy Johnson, Jimmy Rollins, Paul Lo Duca and Trevor Hoffman.

This Week in Baseball is the longest running sports anthology series in American television broadcast history. This Week in Baseball is produced by Major League Baseball Productions, the Emmy award-winning in-house television and video production division of Major League Baseball.

Finch, a former University of Arizona softball star, helped her team win the NCAA Women's College World Series in 2001. She is currently preparing to try out for the Olympic team.

She said she is happy to host the Pitch, Hit & Run segment of This Week in Baseball.

"Our sport is the sister sport to baseball and this is what we need for our sport to get moving, to team up with [baseball]," Finch said. "And who wouldn't want to hang out with big leaguers and pick their brain and watch them play the same sport we do."

The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher started playing softball in California when she was five years old, and began pitching when she was eight. She said she hopes to inspire kids who want to become professional athletes someday.

"The sky's the limit -- go for it," she said. "Just follow your dreams and anything's possible."

Lo Duca said he thinks Finch will be a great player for kids and adults to learn from.

"It's very good to have somebody like her [on the show], and she's a very good athlete," he said.

After seeing her pitch, he thinks they will have a new understanding of softball pitches.

"I think a lot of people are going to realize how really tough it is to hit [a pitch off of] somebody of that caliber," he said. "Obivously, she's the best at what she does. I think a lot of guys sit at home and say they can hit that, but let me tell you something: You can't."

Finch recently visited Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to tape a segment of Pitch, Hit & Run.

The Dodgers and visiting Phillies got to see Finch show off her stuff. Phillies manager Larry Bowa said her skills made quite an impression on him.

"I'm just glad we don't have to face her every night, because we might be shaking our heads and taking the bats back to the rack," Bowa said.

The fact that she throws a softball rather than a baseball didn't seem to matter to Bowa or the players.

"From afar you think, oh yeah, she throws a softball, but the movement of the pitch and then she throws a straight changeup, very impressive," Bowa said.

The players had a chance to bat against her during batting practice and didn't exactly enjoy the experience.

"[The ball] was unhittable. Sometimes when you're watching from outside, it looks easier, but this time it didn't. Even watching from outside, the ball was racing, big time," said Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco. "I wouldn't like to be facing her."

Lo Duca was behind the plate when Finch was pitching to the players.

"I had trouble catching her, so I knew I was in trouble when I [batted against] her," he said. "The ball is going every which direction, and it's pretty hard. It's gotta be equivalent to the high 90s, so she's nasty.

"I missed like four of [the balls]. I'm not used to the ball going up, that's the one that gave me the most trouble."

He had some difficulty batting against her as well.

"It was tough. She threw two balls right by me, and then she threw me a changeup and I wasn't even close," he said. "It might be good because after seeing that, [baseball pitches don't] seem as nasty."

Bowa said he feels Finch will go far with her talent.

"I'm sure she's going to be a great pitcher for the Olympic team, and obviously she had a great career at Arizona," he said. "It's fun to watch her compete, and she looks like she has a lot of fun out there."