Jessica Mendoza: the College World Series, Reese Witherspoon, Shawn-John and the IOC

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What a crazy few weeks it has been!  The end of May came along with one of my favorite times of year: college softball post season. I commentated the regionals (ASU), super regionals (Stanford) and the grand event - the Women's College World Series for ESPN. The WCWS this year was one of the most exciting I have ever seen, with offensive records broken left and right. There were so many home runs hit, including FOUR grand slams (two of which were game-winners) it was no wonder we also had a record-breaking 1.8 MILLION people tuned into ESPN the championship. We have come a long way and I love hearing from so many new fans that never watched the sport before and have fallen in love with seeing these women play so well, and with so much passion. 

This week has been especially eventful because I was able to meet up with Academy award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon (fellow Stanford student) at UCLA for some softball tips for her upcoming movie where she plays a professional softball player who gets cut from the National team. She has never played the sport before, but has been training for a few months now trying to look as authentic as possible. I was so impressed with how hard she was working to do everything right, and how much she respects the world of female athletics. I have no doubt she will represent us well and this movie, which debuts December 2010, will not only be huge for our sport, but for all female athletes. Her next goal is to come out to one of our Women's Sports Foundation events -- I think we can make that happen :)

After training with Reese, I headed to Louisville, Kentucky to put on a softball clinic with Olympic teammate Taria Flowers. We had over 100 girls attend and had so much fun working drills and also teaching important "life skills" to girls ranging from age 7-23. I also spent some time in the area speaking to a local basketball team and meeting with one of my sponsors, Louisville Slugger -- talking about the future support of softball in years to come. 

This morning I had breakfast with Olympic gymnast and "Dancing with the Stars" winner, Shawn Johnson. What a whirlwind she has been on, and an exciting one too! She said she had no idea she would be able to do so many great things and meet so many people at only 17 years old. She is definitely living life to the fullest and most importantly, looking for ways to give back. One of her first questions to me was "How do I become President of the Women's Sports Foundation?". Gotta love it!!!

Now I am on my way to Lausanne, Switzerland to present on behalf of softball (along with Michele Smith and other international softball athletes) at the International Olympic Committee headquarters to get the sport back into the Olympic games for 2016. From these presentations, the IOC will be choosing two of the following seven sports:

• Softball
• Rugby
• Baseball
• Golf
• Squash
• Roller Sports
• Karate

So please keep your fingers crossed the IOC will make the right decision! For more information, please visit www.backsoftball.com. 

After I return from Switzerland, just three more events in St. Louis, Cape Cod and Boston and then I am home to "nest" for the baby's arrival in August!!! What a summer :)

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