She is the all-American smokin� the US and international softball arena. Born on September 30, 1980, and growing up in La Mirada, California, this star-athlete earned four softball letters for four different coaches while a student at La Mirada High � two in basketball and two in volleyball. She served as a pitcher, first baseman and shortstop in softball, and was awarded as the 1998 La Mirada Athlete of the Year. All of her accomplishments in high school lead her to be chosen by Jump Magazine as the No. 1 high school recruit. Carrying her high school success into college, and well into her Olympic career, this lady has built a name for herself both nationally and internationally. And now, she's earned her place as the SPOTlight focus for the month of September... Give it up for Olympic gold medalist, JENNIE FINCH, this month's Daily Dish SPOTlight winner...

Jennie Finch is a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Softball team, which just recently won the gold medal in Athens. She was also a part of the 2002 World Champion gold medal team. She�s a two-time winner of the Honda Award as the nation�s best softball player (2001-2002), and holds the NCAA record with 60 consecutive wins.

The softball maven led the University of Arizona to the 2001 NCAA title. She finished the 2001 season 32-0, garnering the NCAA record for wins in a season without a defeat. Her college career record stands at 50-12, with six perfect games, 10 no-hitters, 0.15 ERA and 784 strikeouts. She was nominated for an ESPY in 2000 for Best Female Collegiate Athlete.

After graduating from Arizona with a degree in communications in 2002, she interned at Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind and also at Tucson radio station, KRQ-FM. She prides herself in filing stories as a correspondent for the Major league Baseball�s �This Week in Baseball,� and calls pasta her favorite food. Incidentally, �A League of Their Own� is her favorite movie, and she�s never cussed in her life: �Never. Not even once. That�s one of those things that once you start, it would be very hard to stop, so I just never started.�

Finch once said, "My goal is to never lose. That may not be realistic, but I'm going to try." In a way, she�s already met this goal. Her star only keeps rising. Give it up for JENNIE FINCH, the DAILYdish SPOTlight for September.

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