Tech upsets US National Team, 1-0
Angela Tincher no-hits three-time
Olympic gold medal winners
Racers
First-Round Selection in the 2008 NPF
Draft Wins “Tinch vs. Finch” Battle
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
- In one of the biggest upsets in
softball history, the Virginia Tech
softball team, behind a no-hit
performance from
Angela
Tincher, defeated the U.S.
National Softball Team, 1-0, Wednesday
night in an exhibition game at Hall of
Fame Stadium.
The
Hokies got a run in the second inning
and that would prove to be enough.
Catcher
Kelsey
Hoffman led off the inning
with a double to the right-center gap
and was pinch ran for by
Anna
Zitt. Zitt moved to third on
an illegal pitch by USA pitcher Jennie
Finch and scored on a bloop two-out
single by
Caroline
Stolle.
The
1-0 lead was the first time in 18 games
for Team USA on its KFC Bound 4 Beijing
Tour it has trailed as the team came in
outscoring its opponents 174-3. The
Hokies became just the second team to
score on the Red, White and Blue as Cal
State Fullerton scored three runs.
Tincher, the reigning USA Softball
National Player of the Week, was a walk
away from a perfect game, but struck out
10 in winning the "Tinch vs. Finch"
battle. Finch took the loss, going 4.0
innings, allowing one run on four hits
with six strikeouts. Monica Abbott
pitched the last three innings, allowing
two hits with six strikeouts.
The
Hokies had six hits, the most against
the U.S. Team this tour.
Beth
Walker led the way with a
pair of hits while
Jenna
Rhodes,
Erin Ota,
Hoffman and Stolle each had one. All 18
players on Tech's roster who dressed got
into the game.
The
loss snaps a 185-game pre-Olympic
exhibition tour winning streak dating
back to 1996. The team's last loss,
regardless of which kind of competition,
came in 2007 to Japan at the Japan Cup.
The U.S. team has won the past three
Olympic gold medals. The Red, White and
Blue haven't been shutout in any
competition since at least before 2004
and it is believed to be the team's
first loss against a true college team.