Featured Player of the Month September 2010 Tori Finucane Pitcher Class of 2013 Virginia Shamrocks

Born to Dominate

Tori Finucane’s shy personality and quiet demeanor are reflective of her young age; she is entering into her sophomore year of high school at Our Lady of Good Counsel, in the Washington metropolitan area.  The dominance of the hard throwing righty on the mound is that of a veteran who has seen plenty of action in high pressure situations. Once she steps into that circle she seems to transform into an alter ego.  Commanding respect from batter after batter, her ice cold demeanor on the mound allowed her to strike out 222 batters, (single season school record), while only giving up 32 hits.  The most amazing thing about Tori’s story is she has only been pitching for about four years.  Tori began playing softball around 10 years old; she became interested after watching her older sister.  With someone starting in the game so late and becoming a pitcher it only leaves us all to believe that along with skill and good coaching, Tori Finucane’s ability in the pitching circle is a skill that she was born with.  Pitching is one of the hardest things to learn, so to learn and excel in such a short amount of time makes Tori a very special athlete. 

Standing only 5”7’ Finucane has a lean body that is built to excel on the mound.  She is known to have hit speeds on the radar gun in the mid to upper 60’s but she is not just a pitcher that tries to overpower every batter. She has an arsenal of pitches that includes fastball, curveball, drop, changeup, riseball, screwball and knuckle-curve which she is working to perfect.  Tori’s knowledge of the game and her ability to break down a batter’s swing allows her to stay one step ahead of the batter knowing which of her seven pitches would be the best to keep the batter off balance and playing the guessing game.  Tori was able to lead her team to their first finals appearance in eight years. Her team was not able to bring home the grand prize, but the feeling of playing in the big game only made Tori want to work that much harder to ensure that her team would be the last ones standing in her sophomore year. 

Tori’s athletic accolades are very impressive; she received the ESPN Rise Avatar Award known as The Performance that lived up to the hype award.  She was also an ESPN RISE Nominee, for Gatorade Player of the Year. Tori was named Player of the Year for the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, All Gazette, and Montgomery County for her outstanding performance during 2009-2010 season.  She also made the Washington Post First Team All-Met which is extremely rare for a freshman pitcher. Throwing five no-hitters and two perfect games helped make Tori an automatic bid for such great awards. Tori is a standout wherever she’s at whether that is on the softball field or in the classroom where she holds a 3.63 G.P.A.

Tori loves the feeling she gets when she strikes a batter out, as it gives her a sense of victory. She wins the battle one batter at a time to help her team win the 7 inning war.  Over the summer Tori played with the Virginia Shamrocks, where she was also very successful on the mound, with a pitching record of 48-4 including 579 strikeouts, 32 shutouts, and an ERA of 0.49.  Tori excels when the stakes are the highest.  During the ASA Nationals in Moline, several college coaches from top notch programs where standing behind home plate with radar guns watching Tori pitch against the New York Bad Apples. Tori gave them a spectacular show by striking out 20 of 21 batters.  Tori Finucane has ice running through her veins and when it comes to performing nothing rattles this rising star.  

Tori has the softball world at her fingertips. She has all the top softball programs seating on the edge of their seat watching her every pitch and hoping that she will be sending their college that National Letter of Intent at the end of her senior year in 2013.

By: Deomni Murray