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Finch Throws No-Hitter
By Holly Krivokapich // USA Softball // April 11, 2008
Greensboro, N.C. – The USA Softball Women’s National team extended its KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour record to 20-1 as it defeated UNC Greensboro 13-0 tonight in Greensboro, N.C. Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.) allowed no hits against the Spartans for her first complete game of the tour.
Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.) made her fifth start of the tour, allowing no runners to reach the base paths until the third inning when Emily Akiyama was hit by a pitch.
The team juiced up the bases in the second off three walks issued to Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.), Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) and Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.). However two called strikeouts and a popup to shortstop left three runners stranded and the game tied at zero heading into the third.
With two outs against them in the third, the team again loaded up the bases with Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.) drawing a walk followed by singles by Bustos and Kretschman. Duran was responsible for the first runs of the game with a two-RBI single. A single by Vicky Galindo (Union City, Calif.) and a two-RBI single by Lauren Lappin (Anaheim, Calif.) gave the team a 5-0 lead after three innings.
The Red, White and Blue took their 5-0 lead to 13-0 in the sixth inning, combining for nine hits. Highlighting the inning was a three-run homerun by Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.) and a two-run homerun by Bustos. Both Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.) and Lappin went 2-for-2 in the sixth inning with a single and double each to help the team put up eight runs in the sixth.
Finch allowed a UNCG runner on base with a walk issued in the seventh but closed out the game allowing her first complete game no-hitter. She had a KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour high 18 strikeouts to extend her record to 4-1.
Next up for the team is the University of Tennessee on Sat., April 12 at 3:00 p.m. Live stats as well as complete coverage of this event is available at www.usasoftball.com.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
About KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour
The KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour is a 45-city nationwide pre-Olympic tour for the USA Softball Women's National team as they prepare to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Beginning in February, the tour reaches every corner of the country including 23 states while Team USA prepares with 62 total games. The tour consists of five consecutive weekly national televised games on ESPN2 in April and May along with two other bonus games plus four games slated for July that rounds out over 22 hours of original USA Softball branded programming on the ESPN family of networks. Along with the title sponsor, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), other national tour sponsors include Dermabond and Lumber Liquidators.
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