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Softball star plays hardball with Rays

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- It was easy to tell who was having the better time Monday.

While a handful of Rays hitters were grumbling around the batting cage, Michele Smith was smiling brightly on the mound.

Smith, the U.S. Olympic softball star, worked out with the Rays as part of a TV feature for an upcoming edition of This Week in Baseball. The baseball cap didn't sit quite like the usual visor and her red shoes stood out against her green Tampa Bay uniform, but otherwise Smith fit right in. "I can get used to this," she said.

Smith shagged balls in the outfield and took some batting practice swings at baseballs thrown by minor-league coach David Howard. But the real fun came when Smith grabbed some softballs and went to the mound.

Before the Rays' own Olympians, Pat Borders and Brent Abernathy, could get ready, 3,010-hit man Wade Boggs insisted on jumping in first, hollering, "Bring it on."

But after standing in as Smith threw a dozen warmups, mixing rising and dropping fastballs with a nasty changeup, Boggs had a different tune. "Take it easy on me," he said. "I'm retired."

It's not just that Smith throws hard, but softball pitchers throw from 40 feet away, rather than 60 feet, 6 inches. That makes a softball thrown at 70 mph seem like a 110-mph fastball to a hitter.

"That's not fair," Boggs said afterward. "Forty feet is way too close. You don't see many guys throwing 110 mph. And then she drops that Mickey Mouse changeup on you and you've got Bugs Bunny trying to swing three times."

Boggs managed one hard liner up the middle, and Borders and Abernathy didn't fare much better. "You've got to be kidding me," Borders said at one point.

Smith, who lives in Treasure Island, said she had a great time all around.

"I love to hit because I'm not just a pitcher," she said. "But I've got to tell you, it's a blast to throw to those guys. When Wade Boggs stepped in and said, 'Bring it on!' I mean that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"This was just a lot of fun. It's a great promo for softball and a great promo for the Devil Rays."

Given the Rays' need for some left-handed relievers, maybe she could be back. Did the Rays offer her a contract, a fan asked. "Not yet," she said. "Maybe it'll be in the mail."

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