Puerto Rican Softball Players - Olympic Softball Players of Puerto Rico, Lisa Fernandez, Ivelisse Echevarra, Rebekah Colberg, Alejandro Cruz (Paperback)

Chapters: Olympic Softball Players of Puerto Rico, Lisa Fernandez, Ivelisse Echevarra, Rebekah Colberg, Alejandro Cruz, Juan Pachot. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Lisa Fernandez (born February 22, 1971, in New York City) is a right-handed softball pitcher of Cuban-Puerto Rican descent, who established an Olympic record in softball with 25 strikeouts in a game as a member of the United States Women's team. Lisa's father immigrated from Cuba, where he played baseball. In New York, he met Lisa's mother, who had migrated from Puerto Rico and whom he married. Lisa's mother played stickball, a street game similar to baseball played with a broom stick and a rubber ball, with her brother in the streets. Lisa began playing at the age of eight. At twelve, she played in a local children's league; when she tried out as a pitcher, her coach told her that she would never make it because she didn't have the right size and build. In 1986, Lisa and her family moved to Lakewood, California, where she attended St. Joseph High School. She joined her school's girls' softball team and she and her teammates won the CIF Championship. Upon graduating from high school, she was accepted to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she played softball and earned a degree in psychology. Fernandez played at UCLA from 1990-93. A three-time winner of the sport's Honda Award, Fernandez became the first softball player to win the Honda-Broderick Cup in 1993, given to the outstanding collegiate female athlete in all sports. A four-time, first-team All-American, Fernandez led UCLA to two national championships (1990