In Photos: Mariners star Julio Rodriguez & Olympics bronze medalist Hailey Van Lith swap jerseys ahead of Giants game
Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez and bronze medalist soccer star Hailey Van Lith exchanged jerseys ahead of the series finale against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
The two are perennial Olympic stars, with Rodriguez earning the bronze medal representing the Dominican Republic in the Tokyo Summer Games, while Van Lith won bronze with the United States in 3x3 basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Apart from Hailey Van Lith, the Mariners celebrated all of Washington's summer Olympians.
As for Van Lith, she's from Wenatchee, Washington, and is heading to TCU after previously playing at Louisville and LSU. Her profile on the team's website mentions her credentials:
"Named a 2020 McDonald's All-American ... Graded the No. 7 overall prospect by ESPN HoopGurlz in the class of 2020 ... Rated as the nation's No. 2 overall recruit in her class by Prospect Nation ...
"One of five players selected to the 2020 Jersey Mike’s Naismith National High School All-American First Team ... Finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year ... Swept Gatorade Washington and MaxPreps Player of the Year honors in 2020 ... Scored more than 2,000 points in her prep career at Cashmere HS."
Hailey Van Lith's first pitch at Mariners game receives praise from announcer
For athletes belonging to different leagues like NBA, NFL and NHL, throwing the first pitch can invite criticism, as they tend to fall short or completely out of the picture. However, that wasn't the case when senior college basketball player Hailey Van Lith took the mound to throw the first pitch to Julio Rodriguez.
The pitch was crisp, going down breaking ball stuff, which could have intimated hitters and was a perfect clone of Clayton Kershaw's venomous slider.
The Mariners announcer also gave a shout-out to Hailey Van Lith for a good ceremonial first pitch:
"That was better than 98.9% first pitches by NBA and NFL players."
The video posted by the MLB and Mariners has gone viral on social media, garnering over 200K engagements within the first hour.