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Tennessee softball coach Ralph Weekly turned to his wife and co-head coach, Karen, after the Lady Vols took a two-run lead Saturday on the U.S. Olympic team and shared a thought.

"We want to go out there and give Monica (Abbott) a hug," Weekly said. "What pressure that had to be for her."

Abbott responded by holding UT hitless over the final 52<0x2044>3 innings at Lee Softball Stadium, and only one more Lady Vol reached base, on an error, in a 4-2 victory.

Abbott ran her record to a team-best 6-0, but for those four long innings, the former Lady Vol found herself in an intense situation.

She was trailing former teammates in front of fans who had watched her dominate collegiate softball like no other pitcher and no doubt expected the same in the exhibition game.

"There weren't nerves. Most of my nerves came before I got to the field, when my stomach fell into my guts," said Abbott, who's competing with Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch in the U.S. Olympic team's pitching rotation. "I've been throwing against some of them for four years, and they knew my tendencies."

UT All-American Tonya Callahan admitted as much, staying patient in her at-bat before driving a towering home run in the first inning.

"Because I throw hard, I know when they hit a pitch like that it's probably going out," Abbott said. "I didn't watch."

U.S. Olympic coach Mike Candrea did, and he watched Abbott closely to see how she'd respond.

Candrea, who coached the U.S. to the gold medal in 2004 in Athens, Greece, and will lead the team to Beijing this summer, said situations like this are what the Olympic team's exhibition tour is all about.

"I like games like this, because this is what prepares us," Candrea said. "This evaluation period is huge, because it's how you respond when things get tough.

"It was good to see Monica move forward and take it a pitch at a time. She's grown a lot mentally."

Abbott admitted she was upset when Callahan and freshman Jen Lapicki hit home runs off her.

"Of course, and I get upset when I give up singles, doubles or triples," said Abbott, at 22 the youngest player on the U.S. Olympic team. "But I realize I still have 90 pitches to go, and you can't let things like that affect your next pitch."

Three-time gold medal-winning pitcher Lisa Fernandez said Abbott has impressed her.

"One thing about being mentally tough; you don't know you are until you are challenged," said Fernandez, who won two NCAA titles at UCLA before embarking on a career that has made her the most famous softball player in the world. "Monica is talented; there's not many six-foot-plus pitchers throwing in the 70s (mph). It was good to see her close it out."

As much as Weekly wanted the signature win for the UT program, he was happy to see Abbott come through, as she did for him numerous times.

"We are so proud of Monica Abbott, I really can't say enough," he said. "Monica is the beacon of this program."

Appropriately enough, Abbott used Saturday's adversity to show her Olympic coach and teammates she has a bright future on the U.S. team, as well.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.