ERIC BRADY | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Scot Thomas will coach the Salem All-Stars in tonight's game with the U.S. Olympic team. Ffrom left: Virginia Tech's Jessica Everhart, Radford's Ashley Taylor and Hope Creasy, Winthrop's Cari Wooldridge, Virginia's Kelly Haller (in back) and James Madison's Jenny Clohan.

Four years ago, Cari Wooldridge was in the stands when the U.S. Olympic softball team played in Salem.

Tonight, she will be on the field.

Wooldridge, a Liberty High School graduate who pitches for Winthrop, will be part of the opposition facing the Olympians at 7 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.

"It's always been a dream to play against them," Wooldridge said before practice Wednesday.

"My goal is no home runs, keep line drives to a minimum and maybe a strikeout or two."

The U.S. team is 57-1 on its pre-Beijing tour. The 14 members of the Salem All-Stars are looking forward to facing such stars as Cat Osterman, Crystl Bustos and Jessica Mendoza.

"You idolize a bunch of these girls as you're growing up," said Cave Spring graduate Mary Greenway, a recent UNC Greensboro graduate who will start in the outfield. "To be able to play them is really a great honor."

"It's just a once in a lifetime chance," said Christiansburg graduate Andrea McIntyre of Appalachian State, who will start at third base.

For a handful of players on the squad, the opportunity is actually twice in a lifetime. Beth Walker, Amber Walker, Jessica Everhart and Jenna Rhodes were part of the Virginia Tech team that upset the Olympians 1-0 in March in Oklahoma City.

That doesn't make tonight's game any less thrilling for them.

"They're who we've looked up to forever," said Rhodes, who will start at designated player. "It's awesome just to get the opportunity to play them."

This will also be Greenway's second crack at the Olympians. She was on the UNC Greensboro team that lost 13-0 to the U.S. in April.

This is an especially big week for Greenway, who will be married Saturday.

While Jennie Finch and Monica Abbott pitched against the Hokies in March, tonight's pitcher will be former University of Texas standout Cat Osterman.

Osterman, one of 10 holdovers from the 2004 Olympic team, has struck out 232 batters in 108¹₃ innings on this tour.

"I'm going to start hacking at it and hope for the best," said Christiansburg graduate Hope Creasy of Radford University, who will start in the outfield. "It's going to be intimidating, but you've got to go out there and just have confidence."

Beth Walker was 2-for-2 in Tech's stunning upset, so she won't be too upset if her second game against the U.S. doesn't go as well.

"I've already batted 1.000. If I strike out twice, then I'll still be batting .500," Walker, a Galax graduate who will start at first base, said with a grin.

Three-time Big South pitcher of the year Ashley Taylor will start for Salem. The recent RU graduate is excited for the chance to end her career against "the best team in the world."

"There's a little bit of nerves going," she said. "I just told [the other All-Stars] that I couldn't wait until my kids were old enough so I could tell them this story."

Wooldridge and James Madison University's Jenny Clohan will also pitch in the game, which is scheduled to last six or seven innings.

How will the All-Stars pitch to Bustos, who has 26 homers on the tour?

"Low," Wooldridge said with a laugh. "I'm not going to put anything in her meat area because we know what she can do."

The Walkers won't be the only set of sisters on the Salem team.

Everhart -- who got engaged this month to former Jefferson Forest and Liberty University football player Stevie Ray Lloyd -- will be joined on the squad by her twin, Jennifer, who plays for RU. Jennifer will start at second base and Jessica in the outfield.

The team is looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd; all 4,000 tickets have been sold.

In the 2004 game at the Moyer Sports Complex, the local opposition got only one hit off Finch but lost by a respectable 6-0 score.

The Salem pitchers in that game were then-Georgia Tech standout Jessica Sallinger, who was imported to make it a competitive game; Angela Tincher, then a recent graduate of James River; and then-Hokie Katie Maynard.

Tincher threw a no-hitter in Tech's upset of the U.S. team in March, but she is now pitching for her pro team, the Akron Racers.

"Without Tinch, it's going to be hard," Beth Walker said. "But I think we're still going to be good competition."

Tech's Scot Thomas will coach the Salem team. The Salem players will wear new uniforms that will be given to Salem High School after the game.

Kiwanis, which is usually a baseball field, has undergone a makeover for this game.

The infield and pitcher's mound have been replaced, and a temporary outfield fence was installed 220 feet from home plate. Portable bleachers have been placed behind that fence.