Alicia Hollowell

Alicia Kay Hollowell (born February 29, 1984) is a former All-American athlete who was born in Suisun, California and attended Fairfield High School from 1998 to 2002; her parents are Doug and Suzanne Hollowell, and her siblings are Doug Jr., Bryan, Erica and Caroline. She pitched for the University of Arizona Wildcats from 2003 to 2006, collecting 144 career wins (the fourth most in NCAA Division I history) and 1,768 strikeouts (the fifth most in NCAA Division I history). She currently holds the University of Arizona Wildcats records for career wins and career strikeouts, and once held the NCAA Softball World Series strikeout record, and the 2006 NCAA Softball World Series title. She was drafted by Arizona Heat in the National Pro Fastpitch and went on to play for the Akron Racers in the 2007 season, leading them to the championship series before serving as an alternate for the Olympic softball team in 2008.

Fairfield High School

Alicia holds the high school record for most strikeouts in a single game with 61 in a 30-inning game against Woodland High School that started on May 25, was suspended, then concluded four days later on the 29th; she took 364 pitches to accomplish the feat, five more than opposing pitcher Kelly Anderson, and gave up just 10 hits. (Her performance bettered DeeDee Weiman's previous record of 53 strikeouts in a 29-inning game between Cerritos Gahr High School and Lakewood St. Joseph High School in 1986; in that same game, Lisa Fernandez struck out 48 batters (the fourth best high school outing) for Lakewood.)

Hollowell also holds the Fairfield High School records for strikeouts in a career and strikeouts in a season. She earned the MVP Award all four years of her high school career, as well as first-team all-state honors and first-team all-conference honors. She was also named the Gatorade State Player of the Year for 2001-2002, the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year for 2002, and the State Player of the Year for 2002.

2003: Freshman Year

Hollowell pitched two no-hitters in her opening season; one against Wisconsin, and one against Oregon State. Her season total of 394 strikeouts topped the school record of 366, set by Jennie Finch the previous season; her total of 40 wins also broke Nancy Evans' previous school rookie record of 36.

2004: Sophomore Year

Alicia threw three no-hitters, including one perfect game, in her second season, and broke her own school records for strikeouts -- with 508 -- and wins -- with 41; in her perfect game, a 6-0 win over Indiana on March 6, she struck out 20 (career high) of 21 batters she faced to break Finch's single-game school record of 19 strikeouts from April 17, 2002. In doing so, she also set the NCAA second-most strikeout record for a regulation game.

The perfect game was just the third in University of Arizona history, and the first since April 18, 1993; Hollowell was also only the second pitcher in UA history to throw a perfect game, as the preceding two had both been pitched by Susie Parra, in `92 and `93.

Alicia would be the second of two top 5 strikeout pitchers in NCAA history to face Team USA and later be added to the prestigious roster. During the Aiming for Athens tour, Arizona and Hollowell lost their March 26, 2004 game 6-1, but she did manage to strikeout 5 in the contest.

Alicia earned Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors five times, for the weeks of February 17 to February 23, February 24 to March 1, March 2 to March 8, March 16 to March 22, and May 11 to May 16.

2005: Junior Year

Hollowell threw eight no-hitters, including four perfect games, in her first 15 starts of the 2005 season. She also passed Jennie Finch's school record of 1,028 career strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Baylor University on February 27. On April 2, she won her 100th career game in a 4-2 victory over the University of California; she won her 110th career game in an 8-inning 2-1 victory over Oklahoma State University on May 22, tying Jenny Voss for 12th place on the all-time NCAA Division I career wins list.

2006: Senior Year

Alicia won her 120th career NCAA Division I game on February 25, beating Ohio State 5-1 to tie Britni Sneed (LSU) and Sarah Dawson (Louisiana-Monroe) for 6th place on the all-time NCAA Division I wins list; on February 26, she beat Long Beach State 10-0 in five innings to pass Sneed and Dawson and take sole possession of 6th place. She then beat Baylor University 12-4 in five innings on March 10 to record her 124th win and tie Nancy Evans (Arizona) for fifth place on the all-time list; two days later, she beat Baylor again, 11-1 in six innings, to pass Evans and take over fifth place. Her 125th victory also gave her the career wins record for the University of Arizona Wildcats.

Hollowell recorded her 130th and 131st career wins on April 30, beating Washington 2-0 and 10-1 to tie and surpass Keira Goerl (UCLA) for fourth place on the all-time list. On May 27, she beat LSU 14-5 for her 139th win, tying her with Rhonda Wheatley for third place on the career wins list; on June 1, she picked up her 140th career win, beating Oregon State 3-2 in nine innings to pass Wheatley for sole possession of third place.

She won her 143rd career game by shutting out Northwestern 8-0 in Game One of the NCAA Women's College Softball World Series on June 5. She won her 144th career game in a second consecutive shutout against Northwestern, 5-0, to finish her college career by winning the 2006 NCAA Women's College Softball World Series along with the Most Outstanding Player award and WCWS All-Tournament Team honors. Alicia struck out 13 batters (matching the World Series championship game record) to reach a total of 64, breaking Debbie Doom's previous World Series record of 62 from 1982. Hollowell would graduate with the distinction of being the first pitcher in the top 10 NCAA Division I strikeouts list to claim a national title; it was the seventh championship for the University of Arizona.

Professional Career

Alicia was drafted in the first round of the 2006 National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft, the 5th overall pick by the now defunct Arizona Heat based out of Tucson, Arizona. Hollowell took time to finish her studies at Arizona and serve as a Undergraduate Assistant Coach before she eventually signed on with the Akron Racers from Akron, Ohio for 2007 season.

Following her tryout at the USA National Women's Softball camp, Hollowell made her professional debut on June 22, 2007 against the Rockford Thunder and fellow teammate and rival Cat Osterman; she struck out 12 batters in the seven-inning win. Posting a 6-5 record, 70 strikeouts in 70.1 innings pitched with 15 runs on 50 hits and 18 walks issued, Hollowell led her team to second place in the regular season standings and a spot at the Championship Series. The Racers lost both of their starting games, including one to championship runnner-up Rockford Thunder.

Career statistics

University of Arizona Wildcats

Akron Racers

Athletic accomplishments

* 1,762 career NCAA Division I strikeouts
* 144 career NCAA Division I wins
* 17 career NCAA Division I no-hitters
* 5 career NCAA Division I perfect games