Alicia Kay Hollowell-Dunn (born February 29, 1984) is an American former collegiate four-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, retired professional

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

, and assistant coach. She played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

Arizona Wildcats softball The Arizona Wildcats softball team represents the University of Arizona in NCAA Division I Softball. Having claimed eight national championships (second only to UCLA Bruins softball, UCLA), the team is one of the most successful in the history of ...

from 2003 to 2006, collecting 144 career wins and 1,768

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

, both top-10

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

career records. She currently holds the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

records for career strikeouts, shutouts and

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

, in addition to the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

wins and strikeout ratio records. Hollowell won the 2006 Women's College World Series. She was drafted fifth overall by the

Arizona Heat The Arizona Heat was a women's softball team based in Tucson, Arizona. From the 2004 season, it played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch. The team's home games were played at historic Hi Corbett Field. Six of the players on the 2006 roster ...

in the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

but went on to play for the Akron Racers in 2007, leading them to the championship series before serving as an alternate for the

United States women's national softball team The United States women's national softball team is the national softball team of the United States. It is governed by USA Softball (formerly known as the Amateur S ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. For her collegiate career, Hollowell is one of five

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

pitchers to win 100 games, strikeout 1,000 batters, with a sub-1.00

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

and average double digit strikeouts. Hollowell has been named by

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

sportswriters as #6 Best Arizona Wildcat Softball Player; voted by Arizona fans as the #1 Best Pitcher; selected #10 Best Division I Pitcher by the NCAA. Finally she was named a pitcher on the Pac-12 All-Century Team.

Fairfield High School

Hollowell holds the national high school record for strikeouts in a single game with 61, collected in a 30-inning game against Woodland High School that started on May 25, was suspended, then concluded four days later on May 29; 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 Lisa Maria Fernandez (born February 22, 1971) is an American former softball player and current associate head coach at UCLA Bruins softball, UCLA. She is also the general manager of the Talons for the inaugural 2025 season of the Athletes Unlim ...

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 being named First-Team All-State and All-Conference. She was also named the Gatorade State Player of The Year for 2001–2002, the Gatorade Softball Player of the Year for 2002, and the State Player of The Year also in 2002. Finally, for Hollowell's career, she currently ranks top-5 with national high school records in strikeouts (2,238, first place); season strikeouts (641 & 636 in 2000 and 2001); perfect games (14); no-hitters (43); shutouts (111) and ERA (0.08).

University of Arizona

2003: Freshman Year

Hollowell earned Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year along with all-conference honors and a First-Team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n selection. 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 Becky Lemke's previous school rookie record of 25 and was the best total nationally in 2003, while both totals led the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

. She also tied the school season record for shutouts, a career best. Hollowell made her official debut with a two-hit shutout, fanning 11 vs. the FAU Owls on January 31. She also pitched three no-hitters in her opening season, the first coming on February 8 vs.

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

. Beginning on February 22 with a run-rule win of the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

, Hollowell had the longest scoreless inning streak of her career: 59.1 innings pitched, over 11 games (6 complete) and 10 wins. The streak was snapped in 5–2 win vs. the Cal State Fullerton Titans on March 22 when they scored in the third inning. Hollowell won back-to-back games against the No. 1

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

on April 5–6, going 14-innings and surrendering just one run, 6 hits and four walks. Hollowell led the Wildcats to a No. 1 seed at the World Series with her 38–3 win–loss record. In her debut at the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

, Hollowell pitched all of Arizona's games and left with a 2–2 record, falling in the semifinals. In her third game against

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

she struck out 17 in a 3–2 loss, her best showing at the WCWS until 2006. Hollowell was also a WCWS All-Tournament Team honoree.

2004: Sophomore Year

Hollowell broke her own school records for strikeouts and wins with career bests 508 and 41 respectively. She earned

"Pitcher of the Week" honors 5 times, for the weeks of February 17 – February 23, February 24 – March 1, March 2 – March 8, March 16 – March 22 and May 11 – May 16. Hollowell also repeated all-season honors including Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year for achieving the pitching Triple Crown, leading the conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts (was the fourth pitcher to earn the distinction). Her career best strikeout ratio of 12.1 led the

. Hollowell was also named one of three finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in t ...

for softball. Holowell threw two no-hitters, including one perfect game, a 6–0 win over the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

on March 6. In that game, she struck out a career and school best 20 of 21 batters faced to break Becky Lemke's single-game school record of 19 from March 11, 2000. In doing so, she also set the

second-most strikeouts overall for a regulation game, behind only

Michele Granger Michele Marie Granger (born January 15, 1970) is an American, former collegiate four-time NCAA Division I First Team All-American and 1996 gold medal-winning Olympian softball pitcher. She played college softball for four seasons, over five ye ...

's total of 21 from 1991. This game also began an 18 consecutive strikeout streak: Hollowell finished the game fanning 13 straight batters. In a win over the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

on March 7, she got a save by throwing a perfect inning and striking out all three batters faced. In her second no-hitter against the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

on March 12, she began the game striking out the first two batters before the streak ended with a ground ball to the mound. The perfect game was just the third in

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

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 1992 and 1993. In addition, she also would throw 19 consecutive hitless innings over the same period as this perfect game. On February 29 to begin the streak, she got a win over

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

and closed out the game with 1.1 hitless innings. Against Missouri, she would also throw two hitless innings in the second match-up of the series before retiring the first two Tigers in the finale on March 14 to complete the feat; both of the streaks were career highlights. Finally, around all of this, Hollowell also put together a career best 32 consecutive game wins streak (

5th best) from opening day on February 6 until it was snapped in a one-run loss to the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

on April 25. For the streak, Hollowell collected 389 strikeouts and maintained a 0.73 ERA and allowed 80 hits and 48 walks in 209.0 innings.

2005: Junior Year

Hollowell threw 8 no-hitters (tied second for an

season and the Junior Class records), three of them perfect games (also an

season and Junior Class record), within her first 16 starts of the 2005 season. Hollowell again earned all-season honors from both the

and the

, as a Second Team honoree. She led the conference in ERA for a second consecutive season. In one of Hollowell's no-hit performances vs. the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters, she recorded her 1,000th career strikeout on February 26. The next day, she passed Jennie Finch's school record of 1,028 career strikeouts in a 1–0 win over

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

on February 27. Hollowell and

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player and currently the general manager of the Volts for the inaugural 2025 season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). Osterman pitched on the United Stat ...

combined for 34 strikeouts at 11 and 23 respectively on March 17 for an

top-10 record; the Wildcats lost 1–0. On April 2, she won her 100th career game in a 4–2 victory over the

. Arizona and Hollowell made it back to the World Series but a title remained elusive. In game three for the Wildcats,

and the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

waged an 11-inning battle where Hollowell was brought in to relieve starter Leslie Wolfe, and the two combined for 30 strikeouts (a new WCWS record for combined strikeouts) before Arizona was sent home. Tracy Compton and Lisa Ishikawa of

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and Northwestern respectively held the record at 28 from 1984; the new record was tied in 2011.

2006: Senior Year

Hollowell earned her final all-season honors and was again a finalist for National Player of the Year to accompany four no-hitters and a career best

WHIP A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

. Hollowell won her 120th career

game on February 25, beating

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

to tie Britni Sneed and Sarah Dawson for 6th place on the all-time wins list; on March 3, she beat Long Beach State 49ers to pass Sneed and Dawson and take sole possession of 6th place. She then beat the

in 5-innings on March 10 to record her 124th win and tie Nancy Evans' school record for fifth place on the all-time list. Two days later, she beat Baylor again to pass Evans and take over 5th place. Her 125th victory also gave her the career wins record for the

. On April 14, Hollowell and

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

sophomore Katie Burkhart dueled for 10 innings, combining for the

single game 4th most combined strikeouts, at 15 and 22 respectively for a total of 37; Arizona lost 4–2. The combined total now stands 5th all-time for a single game. Hollowell recorded her 130th and 131st career wins on April 30, beating Washington 2–0 and 10–1 to tie and surpass Keira Goerl for 4th place on the all-time list as well as ownership of the

career record. She picked up her 140th career win, beating the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I ...

3–2 in 9 innings on opening day at the

to pass Rhonda Wheatley for sole possession of third place for all-time wins. In games two and four at the WCWS, Hollowell beat

2–0 (the first time in her career) and

Monica Abbott Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is a retired American professional softball player. Abbott was an All-American pitcher for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in college before starting a professional career in the NPF and in the Japan S ...

6–0 behind a 14-strikeout, two-hit shutout that eliminated Tennessee. The two pitchers and their teams defeated and eliminated the Wildcats the year prior at the World Series. She won her 143rd career game by shutting out the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

8–0 in Game One of the

WCWS Championship 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

World Series crown, along with the "Most Outstanding Player" Award and another WCWS All-Tournament selection. Hollowell struck out 13 batters (matching fellow Wildcat Parra's 7-inning 1994 championship game record and setting it in the

new format's deciding game) to reach a total of 64, cracking Debbie Doom's previous series record of 62 from 1982, the total still ranks third. Hollowell would graduate with the distinction of being the first pitcher in the top-10

strikeouts list to claim a national title; it was the seventh championship for the

. Overall, Hollowell is tops in

career wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeout ratio. She also ranks top-10 in ERA. Hollowell is the wins and strikeout ratio queen for the newly named

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

and ranks top-10 in virtually every other career pitching record. Finally, the Wildcat stands fourth in wins, perfect games (4) and no-hitters (17), 6th in strikeouts and shutouts and 7th in strikeout ratio (11.0) for an

career all-time. Hollowell's prolific career at the WCWS includes an 8–5 record with 138 strikeouts, four shutouts, allowing 11 earned runs, 62 hits and 28 walks for a 0.74 ERA and 0.86 WHIP, averaging 9.2 strikeouts.

USA National Team

Hollowell was selected early in 2004 to the USA Elite Team and competed at

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

, Champions Cup and the World University Games in September. Altogether Hollowell collected 111 strikeouts, 0.96 ERA in 79.2 innings pitched. Her 62 strikeouts at

remains a team-high record. She also recorded a perfect game at University Games, at the time it was the second for any USA Team. In 2005 Hollowell was named to the National USA Softball Team for the summer. She recorded 6 strikeouts in 3.2 innings, allowing no earned runs at the ISF

World Cup of Softball The USA Softball International Cup previously known as the World Cup of Softball, was an annual women's softball tournament. The first eight World Cups were held at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The competition is gover ...

. Team USA earned the silver medal. Again Hollowell made the roster after her senior season with the Wildcats and pitched 6 more strikeouts allowing no earned runs in 5-inning win at the World Cup. She brought home her first gold medal in late 2006. The 2007 season with Team USA, Hollowell did not play in any games but won both at World Cup and the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. During the Bound 4 Beijing Tour, Hollowell held a 4–0 record with 42 strikeouts, 0.00 ERA in 23 innings and 8 appearances on the mound. She was later named an alternate for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Professional career

Hollowell was drafted in the first round of the 2006

Senior Draft, the 5th overall pick by the now defunct

. Hollowell took time to finish her studies at Arizona and serve as an Undergraduate Assistant Coach before she eventually signed on with the Akron Racers for the 2007 season. Following her tryout at the USA National Women's Softball camp for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Hollowell made her professional debut on June 21, 2007, against the Rockford Thunder and fellow USA teammate and college rival

; she struck out 12 batters in the 7-inning win. In her lone season, she posted 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 runner-up Rockford Thunder.

Personal life

Hollowell has coached at two universities since 2007. That year, she was an assistant at Arizona. In August 2009, the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

hired her as an assistant coach. Hollowell rejoined the

in 2011 in an operational role. She was promoted to Assistant Coach in the later half of the 2012 season and aims to continue her efforts. Hollowell was named to ESPN Rise's All-Decade Team in 2009. Hollowell was inducted into the

's Athletic Hall of Fame on November 4, 2011. In the fall of 2014, Hollowell left the Wildcat program to pursue other goals outside softball.

Career statistics

References

Links

* NCAA Division I softball career wins list * NCAA Division I softball career strikeouts list * NCAA Division I softball career -1.00 ERAs list

External links

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20120923065626/http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/w-softbl/ariz-w-softbl-body.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20120920075839/http://pac-12.com/Sports/Softball.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollowell, Alicia 1984 births Living people Arizona Wildcats softball players Pan American Games softball players for the United States Sportspeople from Fairfield, California People from Suisun City, California Sportspeople from Solano County, California Softball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Softball players from California Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award winners 21st-century American sportswomen Fairfield High School (California) alumni