THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060541
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 38 lines
A team trying to make its way up against the team from Down Under.
That's the matchup at Harbor Park tonight as the Colorado Silver Bullets play an exhibition game against the Australian Olympic baseball team.
The Silver Bullets, the traveling women's professional team in its third year, generally plays local semi-pro champions or all-star teams consisting of former college and minor-league players. Last year at Harbor Park, they lost 9-8 to a Navy all-star team representing the U.S.S. Enterprise.
But the Australian team, which beat the Bullets 19-0 in Melbourne, Fla., on Monday, is the toughest opponent the Silver Bullets are likely to face this year.
``We recognize that we're in over our head against a team like this,'' said Silver Bullets manager Phil Niekro, who won 318 games in his major-league pitching career.
``Baseball is getting pretty big in Australia, and these are 24 of the best players in the whole country. Some of our players have played 10 or 11 games in their lives.''
From the start, Niekro has known it would be a long climb for the Silver Bullets, largely comprised of former college softball stars. He sees steady, if slow, progress from his players.
In their inaugural 1994 season, the Bullets won just six of 44 games and were outscored 292-77.
Last year, against slightly improved competition, they went 11-33 and were outscored 264-158.
The Silver Bullets were 3-13 this year heading into Wednesday night's game in Greensboro.
``We've got a lot of new players on the team, and we're making a lot of mistakes,'' Niekro said. ``We can't afford to give runs away, because we're a team that has to kick and scratch for runs. But if we pitch well and play defense, we've got a shot against a pretty fair team.'' by CNB