Friends become foes for a game as UA faces its own coach, Team USA
UA SOFTBALL VS. TEAM USA ð TODAY, 6 P.M.
Fans will never get to see the '27 Yankees battle the '98 Yankees, or Michael Jordan in his prime play LeBron James in his.
But tonight, Arizona softball supporters will get the dream matchup of Jennie Finch vs. Alicia Hollowell and Mike Candrea vs. Larry Ray.
Not to mention that the top college team in the nation and top Olympic team in the country face off.
No. 1 UA (34-1) hosts Team USA (23-0) on USA's Aiming for Athens tour today at 6 p.m., as the Wildcats not only face four alumni, but their coach.
"All we're going to try and do, just like we've done in the past, is try and do the things that we do well and do them as well as we can. After that, it is kind of out of our hands," said UA acting head coach Larry Ray. "They're very explosive offensively, as they've shown on their tour, and they have the best pitching in the world. So it will be a challenge for our offense to get some runners on base, move them around a little bit and try to put a little chink in that armor."
The game will be taped by ESPN for broadcast during the summer.
Finch said she's definitely looking forward to this weekend.
"When it was known we were playing here, we were all excited, especially the past Wildcats, just to come back here once again and play in front of our home-town fans," Finch said. "Just be in Tucson. It's a softball town, so it feels great to be here out on the field."
Making the matchup all the more enticing, both teams will throw their aces. Former Wildcat Finch (7-0), the 2001 and 2002 college player of the year, will get the start against Hollowell (22-0), the reigning USA Softball Player of the Week.
"It'll be a good one," said USA head coach Mike Candrea. "Both are very quality pitchers. Alicia's I think at a caliber that's knocking on the door for international teams and our national team, so I think you're going to see two of the best go at it, and we're excited about the opportunity."
Ray said he thought Finch, a UA assistant coach last year, will have a bit of an advantage because she is pretty familiar with the Wildcats.
"I think (Finch and Hollowell) are two of the premier pitchers in the world," Ray said.
The UA's only loss this season came when Hollowell, who has a 0.53 ERA, and 10 shutouts, was not on the mound. Finch is tied for the lowest ERA on Team USA with 0.00, has the most appearances, the most complete games, the most shutouts, the fewest hits and is tied for the least amount of earned runs. And her opponents have the lowest batting average (0.38).
"She's phenomenal. She's done a great job for the Wildcats," Finch said of Hollowell. "It's going to be a tough game tomorrow; it's going to be a good challenge for us. We look forward to it."
Hollowell, a sophomore, broke Finch's single-season strikeout record last year and is about 100 away from breaking her own record with an average of two strikeouts per inning this season.
"It'll definitely draw a crowd. (Finch is) definitely a star here in Tucson, so it will be nice to just give us a little feeling of what it is going to be like at the World Series," Hollowell said.
Finch has had a hand in all five of the Team USA's no-hitters, with three solo ones, including one in her last start against DePaul.
Team USA, winner of both softball gold medals to date, has outscored opponents 212-8, and only four of its games have lasted the standard seven innings.
"They're the best team in the world, so it'll be a good challenge for us," Hollowell said.
"There's not a better place to play than here," Candrea added.
Hollowell said the UA can win - and she should know. She was on the USA Elite team last summer, one of the few teams to beat the national team.
"I definitely think we can (win). We have a lot of talent. As long as we go out there and play seven strong innings, anything's possible," she said.
Third baseman Crystal Bustos leads Team USA in hitting with a .569 average and 13 home runs.
The Wildcats also play their Alumni Game tomorrow at noon, followed by a doubleheader with UNLV (17-19) to cap their regular season nonconference schedule.
Arizona has owned the Runnin' Rebels so much that UNLV's stadium, Eller Media Stadium at Jim Rogers Field, is named after prominent UA alumnus Karl Eller.
To make matters worse for the Rebels, they will be without the services of junior third baseman and Tucson native Pauline Glenn, who is on an Olympic excursion of her own, practicing for the Greek team.