Seeing women on television was very important to me. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of women's sports. It showed me what I could do and who I could be.

There's nothing better than working up a good sweat.

A macho attitude is totally to my advantage. Guys try to hit it 400 feet out of the park, but in softball you have to use a short, quick swing. Big, huge swings equal big, huge strikeouts.

Right now in my career, it's like I'm having more fun than I've ever had, so it's kind of like, 'Man, I can't stop now.'

From what I hear, it's a normal thing to feel guilty as a mother, especially when trying to fill the needs of a newborn along with maintaining what you had with your first child.

It is incredible how far women have come and women in sports have come.

I had female role models to look up to starting in middle school, athletes like Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm who made me realize that there was room in the world of sports for women. They ignited my dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.