Former Athletic Star and USA Olympian will have her jersey retired at a ceremony at La Mirada High School. Photo jenniefinch.com.

La Mirada~Eighteen years after she graduated from La Mirada High School , La Mirada native and softball great Jennie Finch will be returning to the Matador diamond to have her jersey retired.

Finch’s number 27 will be honored in a ceremony Tuesday, March 22^nd at 3:00 p.m. After, she will throw out the first pitch before the Matadores key rival game vs. Mayfair High School.

An 80’s kid, she was born and grew up in La Mirada. She began pitching at age eight, trained by her father when he noticed she had “a cannon of an arm.”  She played on many traveling ball clubs before high school, winning two American Softball Association Titles, one at age 12 and the other at 14.

At La Mirada High she graduated in 1998 and lettered four times in softball and twice in basketball and volleyball. As a senior she was captain in all three sports.

She finished her career in softball at La Mirada with a 50-12 record, four Suburban league titles and an ERA of 0.15 including 784 strikeouts in 445 total innings pitched. She had six perfect games and 13 no-hitters.

She went on to play for the University of Arizona for four years where she left the program the career leader in strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched and tied for no-hitters (8). Her jersey #27 was retired by the university in 2003.

For Team USA, Finch led the American team to a gold medal in the Olympic Games at Athens in 2004 and a silver medal at Beijing in 2008.

At the La Mirada ceremony, she is expected to attend with family and friends and be presented with a framed jersey, according to first-year head coach Brent Tuttle.

Tuttle also said Finch purchased a set of uniforms for the varsity team this year.

The event is open to the public.