ON THIS DAY: 50 Innings for Michele Smith

October 4, 1998 — Sometimes the impact of a player reaches well beyond the lines of the softball diamond.

On this day 28 years ago, the softball community in New Jersey came together for one very long day of ball.

The Voorhees Stars played an incredible 50-inning marathon game at Voorhees High School, raising money toward the dedication of Woodglen's Michele Smith Field. Voorhees Stars

The name attached to the field needed little introduction.

Michele Smith had grown from a New Jersey softball standout into one of the most recognizable pitchers in the world. Two years earlier, Smith and Team USA had made history by capturing gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the first Olympic softball tournament.

And she wasn't finished.

Two years after the marathon game, Smith would once again stand atop the Olympic podium as the United States captured its second consecutive gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.

What makes the October 4, 1998 event particularly interesting is when it happened.

This wasn't a community looking back on the career of a retired legend.

Michele Smith was still writing her story.

Yet her impact on the next generation of players in her home state was already large enough that a softball field would carry her name — and a group of players was willing to play 50 innings to help make it happen.

Twenty-eight years later, that's a pretty great reminder of what leaving a legacy in this game can look like.

On This Day in Softball History — October 4, 1998.

Connecting the Softball World — Outside The Chute