Watch Amy Harre strike out batter after batter with her lightning fastball. See her flash that familiar smile after tossing another hitless inning. Watch the 23-year-old lead the Chicago Bandits this summer to the top of the National Pro Fastpitch women's softball league.

But the former Saluki ace enjoys a career that almost never was.

Farms, mom and pop shops, ranches and small pubs spread across the 60 miles that stretches along Route 127 between Carbondale and Nashville. Thirteen years ago at the end of that stretch, a 10-year-old girl with a cannon for an arm caught the attention of the SIUC softball coaching staff.

"I'd heard of a kid from Nashville who could throw the ball extremely hard for her age," SIU softball coach Kerri Blaylock said. "She could throw the ball harder than any kid I'd seen."

Harre's decorated softball career, which includes an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, an invitation to the USA Softball Olympic trials, and a stint with the USA Elite team, nearly ended in the sixth grade. The girl had an arm so powerful, it became dangerous to other players.

Parents, friends and neighbors asked Harre to consider quitting softball.

Countless markings from wayward pitches remain on the wooden shed in the Harre family's backyard. An errant toss struck the foot of her father Larry, slicing off his big toe nail. One neighbor, sure he could get a hit, got struck by a Harre pitch leaving him with a black and blue kneecap. Players stopped signing up for the park district league softball team. One of her pitches fractured a batter's wrist during a summer league game.

"Sometimes I look back and ask myself 'why did I keep pitching?'" said Harre, who leads the NPF with a 9-1 record and 0.94 ERA. "Or I ask my dad why he didn't say 'Amy hang it up, you're not very good.' I was just determined to be good."

Amy said during one game children gathered behind home plate, singing "Wild Thing," while Harre pitched.

"I wanted to crawl in a hole and start crying," Harre said. "But it just fueled me to want to be better."

She developed a love for softball that can still be seen today when she takes the mound for the Bandits. Control problems continued to plague her into junior high, but thousands of pitches later and with the help of a pitching coach, she finally began to control her rocket arm as an eighth grader.

By the time she began pitching for Nashville High School, her arm strength put her on the recruiting radar of several Big Ten schools, including Northwestern, who engaged in a recruiting tug-of-war with SIU.

"Players like Amy and her natural physical ability come along only once in a great while," Blaylock said. "She has a special, special talent. God gave her a special gift. She's rare."

What makes her rare is pitching speed and power. During one 2004 summer contest in California while competing for the Carbondale Cougars, a women's travel softball team, she faced world softball power Australia, which had blown out nearly all its opponents. Harre struck out six and gave up only four hits to the powerful Australians, who narrowly edged Carbondale 1-0.

"Everybody was rushing over. There were three radar guns on her," Cougars coach Barrett Rochman said. "Nobody could believe what was happening."

How fast does Harre pitch? Her pitches have been clocked as high as 72 miles per hour, the baseball equivalent of 105 miles an hour. She consistently pitches in the 68-70 range. That's faster than Olympians Cat Osterman and Amy's Bandits teammate Jennie Finch, who pitches 65-68.

Yes, quicker than Jennie Finch, the face of women's softball.

"(Harre) is incredibly strong," Bandits coach Mickey Dean said. "Her wrist is probably her biggest asset. It's what I like to call 'wicked.' It allows her to put a lot of spin on the ball."

Harre left SIU as the most decorated pitcher in the school's history breaking records for wins and ERA. But she had yet to prove herself as a well-rounded pitcher.

At Nashville and SIU, she relied mainly on her fastball, although she did develop an arsenal of pitches. Working closely with Dean, she added a more consistent changeup, and learned to sustain her velocity for longer periods.

Watch Harre now. She hosts training camps for youth softball players. She often will be the last to leave during practices. During Bandits' autograph sessions, she will not leave until each fan receives a signature. She still hi-fives her teammates.

"As soon as I stop loving the game, then I'm done," said Harre, who plans to play overseas in Australia or Italy. "I'll go on with my life, get a job, get married and have kids. But right now I love it too much to stop. I'm not ready to say goodbye to the sport that's treated me so well."

With Finch still working to return to playing shape after giving birth to a boy in April, Harre emerged as the Bandits' ace this season, earning impressive wins against Arizona, Phildelphia and China-Tapai.

"She's been the stronghold of our pitching staff this year," Dean said. "She's been our catalyst."

Saluki fans will remember the ranked opponents that she single handedly shut down. Or that sunny day in Lincoln, Neb., when Harre and the Salukis stunned the No. 6-ranked Cornhuskers, 2-1, to score one of the biggest wins in the program's history. But most will probably remember the upbeat attitude and winning smile.

"Playing at Division I school and playing in the pro league -- it's just unbelievable the opportunities I've had because of softball," Harre said.

Luckily, the 10-year-old girl did not quit.