Photo courtesy of USA Softball

Jennie Finch has brought son Ace all over the country as she prepares with the U.S. softball team for the 2008 Olympics.

Photo courtesy of USA Softball

Jennie Finch is 17-1 for the 2008 Olympic team.

There have been some major additions to Jennie Finch's life since her last visit to Salem four years ago.

She won an Olympic gold medal. She got married.

And she is no longer the only ace in her family.

Finch, one of the standouts of the U.S. Olympic softball team that will play at Kiwanis Field on Thursday, has a 2-year-old son.

As the pitcher and her teammates have traveled the country this year on their pre-Olympic tour, little Ace Daigle has been along for the ride.

"It's been just a joy to be able to accomplish my dreams on the field yet experience the greatest thing in my life so far, which is motherhood," Finch, 27, said in a recent phone interview.

Finch, who pitched at the Moyer Sports Complex during the Olympians' 2004 tour, is one of three members of this year's U.S. team who are juggling motherhood and softball.

The added role has made this tour more challenging for Finch. Salem will be the penultimate stop of 46 on the squad's 60-game tour, which began in February.

"It's been just a whirlwind and a huge balancing act," Finch said. "We're always so grateful to have a great support system as far as my husband's family, my family. Right now my dad's on the road with me. My mom took a leave of absence ... to be with me all last month.

"For him, as long as he has his blanky and his pacifier and either [his] Mom or Dad, he's set."

Finch is married to former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Casey Daigle, now a reliever with Minnesota's Triple-A team, the Rochester Red Wings.

"We have a couple days off a month, and during those days we'll go up to see Casey and then head back on the road again," Finch said. "I'm strong until Casey has to say goodbye to [Ace] and then I've teared up every single time we've left because I know how much Casey has sacrificed as far as allowing me to keep Ace on the road with me and him sacrificing time with Ace."

Finch, who was 2-0 in the 2004 Olympics, is the most famous face on the team. The former University of Arizona ace received prime-time exposure on NBC earlier this year as one of the contestants on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" series. She was once in People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" issue, and was once in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition.

But Finch is also an important member of a team that is seeking its fourth straight Olympic gold medal. The staff also features Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott. Osterman, also a 2004 Olympian, will likely start Thursday against a team of area college standouts.

The Olympians are 55-1 on their pre-Beijing tour, with the loss coming to Virginia Tech in March.

"Every other night in a different hotel, it's not easy," Finch said. "Eight-hour bus rides and then practicing and then getting up and playing the next day and then hopping on a bus again, it's definitely draining.

"But once you step on that field in that uniform and you see all these young girls' faces light up, ... it definitely rejuvenates you and makes it all worthwhile."

Finch is 17-1 with a 0.41 ERA and 179 strikeouts in 102²₃ innings on this tour.

"She probably in her early years relied on throwing the ball by people, where now she's a little bit smarter and relies more on hitting spots and keeping people off-balance," U.S. coach Mike Candrea said. "She's one of the best pitchers in the world."

"She gets hit, she steps back on the mound and she's got fire in her eyes," teammate Jessica Mendoza said.

Three months after giving birth to Ace, Finch helped the U.S. win gold at the 2006 World Championships. Last year, she pitched for National Pro Fastpitch's Chicago Bandits and helped the U.S. win the Pan American Games and the World Cup.

"She's done a wonderful job coming back after having Ace, and has found a way to balance being a mom and still being a very competitive, elite athlete," Candrea said.

"It can't be easy," Mendoza said. "I just have so much more respect for her now than I even did four years ago."

The Olympians have not been part of NPF this season because of the tour, but Finch plans to rejoin the league next season.

But first comes what might be Finch's Olympic swan song. The International Olympic Committee voted softball out of the 2012 Olympics. Finch and her teammates hope to get the sport reinstated for the 2016 Summer Games.

"There'll be no greater stage than Beijing. ... What greater stage to prove to the world that we belong in the Olympics and our sport's too big not to be there?" Finch said. "We're so focused on going and winning that gold medal, but at the same time we know that we're serving a bigger purpose as far as growing it worldwide and hoping to get it back."

And if the sport is part of the 2016 Olympics, might Finch still be pitching for the U.S.?

"In eight years, I'll be done with hopefully four kids," she said. "We'll see. Never say never."