Janie Reed is in Japan preparing for her Olympic debut with the United States softball team. Her husband Jake Reed then made his Major League Baseball debut on Tuesday, July 6 (US time).
Jake was called to the mound for that night’s game against the Miami Marlins after the Los Angeles Dodgers had picked up his contract earlier that day.
Reed allowed two hits and an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning, striking out Garrett Cooper and intentionally walked Jesus Sanchez. The Marlins won 2-1.
“Could you please give him a big hug on my behalf?” Janie reacted to Jake’s selection by the Dodgers on Twitter.
On social media all day, her colleagues, including 2008 silver medalist Monica Abbott, expressed their joy for Jake.
Last year, Dejah Mulipola, a 2021 Arizona graduate, tweeted recordings of herself catching for Jake during the pandemic’s lockdown phase.
“Jake! Jake! Jake!” chanted the team when Janie entered the room at breakfast, according to Olympic team alternate Keilani Ricketts’ Instagram story.
The Americans are at Iwakuni, about 430 miles south of Tokyo, where they will play four doubleheaders from July 9 to 13 and practice in preparation for the United States’ first Olympic game against Italy on July 21.
The defending world champion United States team, ranked first in the world, is expected to win gold in softball’s return to the Olympic program, but will be up against heavy opposition from the host nation and world No. 2 Japan.
Before Japan won the most recent Olympic title in 2008, the United States had won the sport’s first three Olympic titles.
During their freshman year at the University of Oregon in 2011, the Reeds, both 28, met and started dating as student-athletes. In November of 2017, they married.
Who Are Jake Reed Parents?
Jake Reed was born to Steve and Cheryl Reed.