Sara De Boer/Startraks
For the first time, Jennie Finch is caught playing the name game.
But despite some indecisiveness on her choice for her third child — a girl due in January – the former Olympic softball star hit home runs when it came to naming sons Ace Shane and Diesel Dean — an accomplishment which she happily credits to Casey Daigle.
“My husband and I had just started dating and he was like, ‘Hey, I have to run something by you. I always told myself that my first boy would be named Ace, so I just want to make sure if this all works out, you’d be okay with Ace,’” Finch, 32, tells PEOPLE during a recent visit to the office.
“I was like, ‘Where did that come from?!’ In some ways it was super cute because he was already thinking down the road.”
An instant fan of Daigle’s choice, the couple were delighted to discover their first child would indeed be a baby boy. “Us both being pitchers, from [his] standpoint, Ace is the best of everything,” Finch says.
And when she learned they would be welcoming a second son a few years later, the proud parents turned to another all-time favorite.
“We liked Diesel when I was pregnant with Ace. We knew we liked those two names, but obviously our first was going to be Ace,” she recalls. “So we were like, ‘All right, he’s going to be Diesel.’”
The final decision on what they will be calling their daughter, however, has not been so easy. With “a couple” possibilities in mind, Finch reveals she is leaning toward the more traditional route the third time around.
“Everyone is expecting something crazy and outrageous with having Ace and Diesel, but we’re not sure,” she explains. “[One option's] a really sweet Southern name that we might end up with. That’s kind of in the lead right now, but we haven’t decided completely yet.”
Taking a break from baby names, Finch — who visited PEOPLE with Chobani Champions – has focused her attention on Halloween — including the tedious task of keeping 15-month-old Diesel outfitted for the night.
“He could care less. I’m just worried about trying to get a costume on him and it staying on him,” she says with a laugh. “Diesel loves Mickey Mouse so I’m trying to search for a cute little Mickey Mouse costume for him. I’m worried about the ears — I don’t think they’re going to stay on!”
As for 6-year-old Ace, it’s back to the drawing board after a failed attempt at joining forces and morphing into a Power Ranger alongside his baby brother. “We went out and got [Ace]‘s Power Ranger costume and I got Diesel a little matching one,” she says.
“It was a little short and he was not so much a fan of it so now we’re in the shopping range.”
– Anya Leon
