Sun City resident and Chicago native Kate Harris waited 100 years for this.
No, not to throw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game -- which she did before Thursday's Cactus League game at Mesa's Sloan Park -- but to watch the Cubs put together a team that could do something she's never seen with her own eyes: win a World Series championship.
"I've been waiting for years -- not for this, but for the fact that the Cubs are in such a position that I really am excited," Harris said minutes before her big moment.
"I'm not a thrower; I'm a golfer. But I love the game, I love baseball and I love the Cubs."
Throwing might not be Harris' forte -- but when her moment came, she delivered a quality underhand throw to Clark, the Cubs' mascot.
"I loved it. I never even thought I'd be able to throw the ball that far straight to someone, and I did it. I'm thrilled," she said.
"It was wonderful. I'm thrilled to be here. What more can I ask for to make to a hundred and still feel good? Thank God. I'm lucky. I'm a very fortunate person."
Harris will turn 100 years old on April 21, but her advancing years have done little to slow her down. She still drives herself around town -- she has a Meals on Wheels delivery every Friday -- and up until last year, she was a regular golfer.
This year, Harris is excited about the Cubs, who advanced to the National League Championship Series last season and are the odds-on favorites to win their first world title since 1908 -- eight years before Harris was born.
Harris is hopeful that this year is finally the year -- but like every Cubs fan, she'll go on loving them either way.
"They've always been in my heart, even when they were really in bad shape," she said. "But they're a great group of kids. I'm excited with (manager) Joe Maddon and the whole crew. I really am very excited to see them."
