CNNSI.com - SI For Women - 100 Greatest Female Athletes

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Use the menu below to read our biographies of the century's greatest sportswomen and then tell us who you think should be No. 1. Also, be sure to check out our expanded home page and our new issue which is on newsstands now.

55. Lisa Fernandez, Softball

1971-
NCAA, World and Olympic champion

Fernandez has a golden arm. John Iacono
Trying to pick the highlight of Lisa Fernandez's softball career is a bit like trying to get a hit off of her: nearly impossible. At the 1998 world championships, Fernandez hit a home run and pitched a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts to almost single-handedly lift the U.S. to its fourth consecutive world title (and her third) in a 1-0 win over Australia. In 1996, she helped lead the U.S. to its first Olympic gold medal in softball. Three years earlier, in her final collegiate season at UCLA, the All-America righthander led Division I in ERA (0.51) and batting average (.510). When she's not on the mound baffling opposing batters, Fernandez is nailing them from third base, a position she plays flawlessly. A determined and driven athlete from the start, Fernandez began playing seriously at age eight. Daily practices with her mother, Emilia, a recreational softball player, ended when Fernandez was 11 because her mother could no longer handle the velocity of her pitches. Fernandez, an assistant softball coach at UCLA, continues to play for Team USA and hopes to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

They said it: "I live for the opportunity to get the game-winning RBI or make the diving play with the bases loaded." -- Fernandez

-- Susan Brody

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.