Milligan College Buffaloes

It was the expected showcase for the U.S. Olympic team on Sunday at Cardinal Park.

Team USA belted out 21 hits in 4 2/3 innings and Alicia Hollowell pitched a no-hitter to earn a 24-0 exhibition victory over Milligan College to improve to 22-1 on the “Bound 4 Beijing” pre-Olympic tour.

Hollowell (4-0) struck out 10 and no Milligan batter was able to hit one of her pitches out of the infield. Offensively, Caitlin Lowe and Kelly Kretschman each collected three hits and four runs scored with Kretschman accounting for a
team-high five RBI.

“We got some innings done before the rain,” said Team USA head coach Mike Candrea. “One of the big parts of this tour is reaching out to the grass roots. This was a place I had never been before and most of our team
members hadn't been before.”

The showcase came one day after ex-Tennessee star Monica Abbott led the Olympic team to a 4-2 win over her former school in Knoxville. If there is an area where Candrea feels the team still needs improvement is performance on a day-to-day basis.

“I don't feel we've played a high level consistently enough,” said Candrea. “We know we have a target on our backs. Right now we're playing like a good college team, but that's not going to get it done in Beijing.”

In the second inning Crystl Bustos provided the fans with a glimpse of her power, sending one of Milligan hurler Sidney Burns' pitches an estimated 275-feet for her 11th home run of the tour.

“Sid threw a good pitch in that situation,” Lady Buffs head coach Wes Holly said. “Bustos just made a flick of the wrist and sent it 275 feet.” Despite the lopsided score, the Lady Buffs earned the respect of many of the Olympic players.

“They definitely played well for an NAIA school,” Hollowell said. “They didn't set back like a lot of teams we face. You could tell they are well-coached.”
Bustos added, “We don't take any team lightly. I don't care if they are NAIA. I first went to a junior college in Palm Beach, Fla. I didn't go directly to UCLA.”

The Olympians scored four runs in the first inning, four in the second, five in the third and 11 in the final inning before the contest was called with two outs. For Milligan, it was a chance to see players at the highest skill level.

“It doesn't matter what you call against them,” Holly said. “It's a matter if they're going to make a mistake and they don't. They're the best in the world and they're going to put the ball in play. If you notice on the scoreboard, most of the time they get runs for every hit. But, it was a great experience for our kids.”

Success for the Lady Buffs was measured by getting bats on the ball and throwing strikes. Burns was able to get the game's most recognized player Jennie Finch to ground out in the first inning and put her with two strikes in two other at-bats.

After the first two Milligan batters didn't make contact, catcher Leah White and first baseman Jessica Blevins put the ball in play, hitting 4-3 ground outs in the first and second innings.

“It was a great experience,” said Blevins. “Leah did hit the ball before me. She had a great connection. I just tried to make contact with the ball. If I did, I hoped it would go. It wasn't as good a hit as I wanted, but I was glad to make contact.”

A big part of the showcase was a Cardinal Park crowd listed at 3,476. Depsite a persistent rain, it was the second-most attended stop on the tour so far, behind only the 3,591 fans who showed up in Oklahoma City to see Team USA face the University of Oklahoma.

“It was a terrific opportunity for our region to see the Olympic team and only 42 cities get to do that,” said Holly. “Johnson City is a lucky one of them. The weather wasn't too cooperative, but we were able to get the event in. We thank everyone for coming out with this kind of weather. Today showed what our region can do to support the Olympic tour.”

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