IN SPORTS: TOKAY GRAD CATCHES NATIONAL ATTENTION
Day and night, Jackie Fuhrman is living out her dream life in San Diego.
But the former Tokay High softball player has caught the attention of a major TV sports network and YouTube viewers around the nation and globe as a San Diego Padres ball girl.
In top of the seventh inning of an Aug. 1 game between the Padres and the Minnesota Twins at Petco Park, Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar, a left-handed hitter, hit an 0-1 pitch that flied toward the right field corner. But Fuhrman, a 2004 Tokay High graduate who has been a Padres’ ball girl for the last eight seasons, was sitting down the right field line when she leaped into the air and caught the line drive that was in foul territory.
“It was the first pitch of the inning,” Fuhrman said Wednesday afternoon. “The second I sat down I popped right back up. I had a lot of people asked me if it would’ve been fair or foul. The ball kind of curved.”
There have been many balls Fuhrman has caught in her eight years as a ball girl. But this one will last with her for the rest of her life.
“My thoughts afterward was it could’ve gone right into second row (of the stands),” Fuhrman said. “I never want them (fans) to get hit. I thought ‘wow, that could’ve hit someone real hard in the stands.’”
After catching the ball, Fuhrman turned around and gave the ball to a youngster, who was wearing a Twins’ jersey.
“He just sprinted down as fast as he could,” Fuhrman said. “He was a Twins fan, but he was really cute running as fast as he could.”
In replays of the catch on ESPN, plus MLB.com and YouTube, Escobar appeared to be in awe of Fuhrman snagging the ball in the air. On Aug. 3, ESPN’s Sports Center showed replays of Fuhrman’s phenomenal catch. As of Wednesday evening, a clip on YouTube already had picked up 147,265 views.
Fuhrman has been working as a ball girl for the Padres the last eight years, and has been with the Padres organization in some capacity or other for 13 years. She started working for the Padres while she was a freshman at San Diego State University, starting off as a member of the event crew known as the Pad Squad.
“We would have speed pitch, wiffle ball pitches to the kids,” said Fuhrman, who turns 31 next month.
Fuhrman runs her own business as a wedding and events planner for The Flower Fields. But at night six months a year, the former Tiger softball player, who played all four years on the varsity team, removes her business clothes and dons a Padres’ uniform at home games.
Fuhrman is the daughter of John Fuhrman, who is the St. Mary’s High softball coach.
To view the clip online, go to YouTube’s Website and type into the search engine “Ballgirl makes great grab, impresses Escobar.”