The first bad news of the Arizona softball season is expected to come down this week: Former Wildcat Jennie Finch will not retain her crown as ESPN Page 2's hottest female athlete.

While espn.com has not officially announced it, the Wildcat projects that she will lose to soccer player Heather Mitts. Finch trails 30.2 percent to 26.4 percent with about 245,000 tabulated votes. The other finalists are former tennis player Anna Kournikova with 18.9 percent, figure skater Jamie Sale with 16 percent and snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler with 8.2.

"I really don't pay attention to those things," said a laughing Nancy Evans, interim associate head coach and Finch's former position coach at the UA.

Former UA golfer Natalie Gulbis was knocked out in the first round, like former UA swimmer and current Arizona student Amanda Beard. Beard, a retailing and consumer sciences junior, finished second in Sale's group with 14.2 percent. Gulbis finished with 4.2 percent, while Sale had 61.2 percent.

The hurler for Team USA won the award last year, getting 61.5 percent of the nearly 200,000 votes, crushing the Russian tennis star, who had 38.4 percent.

UA to see familiar face this weekend in California

Arizona will play at Easton Showcase Field in Cathedral City, Calif., Saturday, and UA head coach Mike Candrea will be coaching the red, white and blue at the same tournament that day.

Candrea's USA Olympic team will begin their "Aiming for Athens" tour this weekend in the Palm Springs Classic, the same tournament that the UA is playing in, but the two will not play. Interim co-head Larry Ray said the team doesn't have any special plans.

"I'm sure we're going to watch a couple of their games, because we know what they're capable of since we competed with and played with them," Ray said. "It is an opportunity to see the best team in the world and how they prepare and how they approach different situations, so we'll try and learn from that."

The Tucson stop on the tour is March 26 at the UA.

Hollowell doesn't mind missing no-hitter chance

Sophomore pitcher Alicia Hollowell (7-0) missed out on a no-hitter this weekend ÷ by a bunt.

Hollowell has pitched three one-hitters this year, two against New Mexico and one against No. 10 Texas a week later at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament in Phoenix.

Hollowell, who has a 0.00 ERA, had her no-hitter broken up by Longhorn shortstop Amber Hall's bunt when UT was down seven in the last inning of the Wildcats' 7-0 win on Thursday. Hollowell laughed and said "no" when asked if she was mad about it.

"They were just trying to get runners on," she said.

V-Day no-no near 1-year anniversary of last no-hitter

While Hollowell's no-hitter was not to be, sophomore Leslie Wolfe (2-0) had one beforehand, almost exactly a year after the UA's last no-no.

Wolfe no-hit Dayton in Arizona's 19-0 five-inning win over the Flyers on Valentine's Day, 364 days after Hollowell threw a no-hitter against Minnesota.

"I had a lot of family there. It's my hometown, so I had a lot of family, old teammates, old coaches," said Wolfe, a Scottsdale native. "It was pretty special, being my first collegiate no-hitter."

Bat Cats

The Wildcats' hitting outburst at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament continued the team's trend of knocking the cover off the ball. The UA is hitting .392 with a slugging percentage of .645 this season.

Arizona hit 12 homers at the Fiesta Bowl, giving the team 20 in 11 games, led by junior third baseman Jackie Coburn (5) and sophomore utility player Shelly Schultz (4). Coburn leads the Wildcats in slugging at a 1.040 clip.

Arizona had two pinch-hit home runs in one inning against Dayton, by junior Candace Abrams and freshman Cortney Nix. Nix's came in her second career at-bat. Her first also resulted in a hit.

The UA has had two or more round-trippers in an inning six times this year.

Schultz drove in 10 runs over the weekend, along with senior pitcher/first baseman Wendy Allen. Allen leads the team in RBIs with 19, followed by Schultz and Coburn (15 each). Schultz, who had a triple against the Longhorns, leads the team in extra base hits with seven. Coburn is second with six.

Table Setting

Much of the reason why the Wildcats have outscored opponents 99-7 this year ÷ by an average of nine runs a game ÷ is the production at the top of the lineup.

Arizona's 1-2-3 hitters, freshman center fielder Caitlin Lowe, sophomore left fielder Autumn Champion and Allen, are each hitting .500 or better. The next three in the batting order have 43 RBIs.

Lowe is hitting .514, Champion .625 and Allen .500.

The UA has also stolen 31 bases in 32 attempts, the same number the 2002 Wildcats had all season in 67 games. Lowe and Champion are both 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts. The record for steals is 136 by the 1998 Arizona team.

Finch up next on RBI list for senior Vandergeest

Senior catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest's climb up Arizona's career RBI list has neared another big name: Finch, at No. 6.

Vandergeest has 193 career RBIs, two behind Finch.