WPCNR PRESS BOX. By Fastpitch Johnny. July 18, 2004: Michelle Smith, the Olympic Champion pitcher in 1996 and 2000, opened the 2004 PONY Fastpitch Nationals in Sterling, Virginia Sunday with an inspiring talk to hundreds of young fast pitch softball players from over 300 travel teams of 12 year olds and 14 year-olds gathered at Franklin Park for the PONY National Opening Ceremonies in this burg along Route 7 in northern Virginia.

Ms. Smith spoke for 35 minutes, then took questions from ballplayers which were smarter than most sportswriters ask. After graciously and candidly answering her adoring fans' questions, Ms. Smith signed autographs for two hours with hundreds still standing in line. Ms. Smith,  who plays professionally in the Japanese professional league, and has for 12 years, revealed  that she did not start pitching until she was 15 years of age, and that at age 19, an auto accident nearly severed her left arm to the point where doctors said she would never pitch again. She used that as an example of why the young pitchers out in the audience and ballplayers should never take someone else's negative assessment of their abilities as a reason to quit.

Ms. Smith talked about her Olympic experience and showed off her two gold medals from 1996 and 2000, and handicapped the upcoming 2004 Olympic Softball competition. She said she expected Japan to be the most competition for the USA Team. She said that Japanese pitchers tend to fool batters with more pinpoint control than American pitchers, who tend to depend more on movement. She noted one star Japanese team pitcher pitches very slow stuff  (about 60 miles an hour, a opposed to the 70 MPH stuff delivered by USA pitchers), and is very successful.

Smith emphasized to the thousands of young players that you don't have to be from California to make the Olympics anymore, saying your success in the sport depends on how hard you work.

Asked by one of her young questioners what her best pitch was, Ms. Smith said riseball, but that after she became known for her rise among hitters, she developed a drop to go along with it, encouraging young pitchers to develop their repertoire.

She revealed her role models growing up were Joan Joyce, the former Brakette great, and Sandy Koufax, also a lefthander. Smith said when she was growing up that she had a quotation from Mr. Koufax on her bedroom door, reading, "Pitching is the art of instilling fear," meaning that pitchers have to keep batters nervous about what's coming next.

Asked about her workout routine now that she has been pitching for some 20 years, Ms. Smith said she bicycles some 50-60 miles a day at her home in Japan. Asked about her warmp routines, she said she puts all of her weight on her back left leg, and practices putting shifting all of the weight of her body forward to her right leg snapping her pitching arm at a 45-degree angle in her pregame warmup.

Ms. Smith said not to be afraid of challenge and challenging yourself at the next level. She concluded that though you have to perform as an individual in softball, you achieve success with your teammates. She said her greatest memory was standing on the stage looking at her teammates and wondering at their great accomlishment when they had to win three in a row against teams that had beaten them in the 2000 Olympics.

Ms. Smith's keynote address took place at a tented city in Franklin Park in  Purcellville, Virginia where  hundreds of colorfully uniformed fast pitch softball players persuaded parents to pay $10 to $15 for T-shirts, more for equipment, other souveniers, and enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers relaxing in tented headquarters of their teams from the East Coast. They were hanging out trading pins, purchasing t-shirts, examining softball equipment and celebrating the sport of fastpitch softball., and getting to know each other.

There are a lot of them here,too!

Mike Smith, head of PONY National  told WPCNR that between the PONY Nationals for the 12 and 14s being held this week in and around Sterling Virginia and the PONY Nationals for 16 and 18s coming up in Raleigh over 600 teams and 7,800 players will be competing. At the PONY Nationals, local Westchester area teams that have either won championships, finished second and received bids, or hosted tournaments include the prestigious Brewster Rockets, the perennially professional Diamond Dolls,  Hudson Valley Express, The Challenge, newcomers the Hudson River Panthers, and from Connecticut come the Eliminators, the Rapids, Xtreme Chaos. The best team name WPCNR observed today in milling through the huge crowds was The Outsiders.