Good Counsel's Finucane commits to Missouri

Good Counsel sophomore All-Met pitcher Tori Finucane orally committed to play softball at Missouri after visiting the school last weekend, according to her father, David.

Several of the nation's premier programs were recruiting Finucane, whose fastball surpasses 65 mph from the 40-foot pitching rubber, even though they are not allowed to formally extend scholarship offers until the start of a recruit's junior year. Defending national champion UCLA, Washington, Michigan and Alabama - all of which finished last season ranked in the ESPN/USA Softball top 10 - were among those pursuing Finucane. Missouri reached the Women's College World Series last spring, finishing 51-13 and ranked eighth.

The reason Finucane committed so early is because the NCAA's recruiting calendar for sports other than football and men's and women's basketball limits the allowed contact between recruits and schools, forcing both sides to make decisions earlier - for schools to extend offers and for recruits to accept them.

Since official visits - campus visits for recruits where the college pays all expenses - cannot be taken until the start of a recruit's senior year, the recruits often pay their own way to visit earlier. David Finucane, in fact, wrote in an email that the recruiting process was getting stressful and expensive, which contributed to Tori committing now.

Finucane went 14-2 last season with a 0.35 ERA, five no-hitters and two perfect games as Good Counsel reached the WCAC final. She struck out 222 of the 408 batters she faced.