Senior pitcher Holly Johnson had a perfect game going into the ninth; she had never recorded a perfect game before and was extremely eager. Anticipation mounted as she took the ball, ready to make the biggest throw in her young life.
The throw sailed wide right. Goodbye perfect game.
She ended up bowling a 279 for the afternoon, just 21 points shy of a perfect game. That was at age 16.
Johnson, now a pitcher on the softball team at Buffalo, didn't have dreams of continuing the sport that she now excels at in college. She wanted to be a professional bowler - and even has skills that can back it up - but her dad pushed her to pursue softball. He didn't hate that his daughter wanted to be a bowler, but thought that softball would be her ticket to college. This has been a consistent theme, as she has learned to adjust to many events throughout her life.
He was right about softball being her future, but Johnson still harbors dreams of the bowling ally instead of the pitching circle.
Up until the age of 16, bowling was at the center of her future plans. Especially after setting all the records for her high school's bowling team.
Johnson blames her father for the drastic shift from wanting to bowl competitively to playing softball.
"My dad said to me pretty straightforward that I am going to play softball and that there are more opportunities on the collegiate level with softball than bowling," Johnson said. "I agreed with him, but was definitely upset that I would need to give it up."
Johnson's father, Curtis Johnson, has specific reasons for pushing the switch: that softball was a much better opportunity for her to get a good education.
"You go to school to get an education as your number one priority," Curtis Johnson said. "When you look at the handful of schools that she could have gone to for bowling, you have to weigh the educational options and they just weren't there like they were for softball."
Holly Johnson, an only child, is a local product who attended high school in Amherst. In her freshman and sophomore year at Amherst High School, she lived with her mom. She would then transfer to Culber Boarding School in Indiana her junior year where she lived with her aunt and uncle and their two boys and really had to adjust to now having to share and cooperate with others.
"Being an only child my entire life, it was a tough adjustment to go from having no siblings to now all of a sudden having two younger brothers living in the same house that I live in," Johnson said. "They really brought out a competitive side to me, a quality that really describes my personality the best."
Johnson became the starting pitcher at Culber and would eventually graduate. She had also picked up the nickname "HoJo", a name that has stuck with her ever since.
"My main reason for transferring from Amherst to Culber was because Culber had a better opportunity for me academically and for sports," Johnson said. "Leaving my high school in the area where I basically grew up was tough as I had to leave all of my friends, teammates and coaches and go live in another town."
It was a theme that would continue through her entire life as she attempted to advance her education and athletic career.
Johnson would fit in quickly with her new family and friends and her competitive nature started to blossom. She not only was competitive on the field, but in the classroom as well.
Johnson strived to be the best and if she did not receive a 100 on an exam, she would argue it, or if she got the second highest grade in the class, she would be upset. Her competitive ability eased the transition into her softball life.
"Even to this day I am competitive with everything I do," Johnson said. "I make everything a game or a challenge ranging from eating competitions with my friends to rock-paper-scissors. Either way, I want to win."
Competitiveness in the classroom and an excellent study routine allowed Johnson to graduate from high school top of her class and prepare her for her next big step: college.
She planned on playing college softball but always had her priorities straight as she always put schoolwork ahead of sports.
"I wanted to go away to a college after living my entire life in Buffalo," Johnson said. I wanted to go to a school that had a good softball team but more importantly a good science program, especially while majoring in math and science."
Johnson chose Piscataway, New Jersey to go to Rutgers University, a top 25 public school. She immediately became the starting pitcher for the softball team. Once again, Johnson would need to try and ease her way into a new lifestyle like she had done in the past.
Just when things started going well for Johnson, things took a turn for the worst.
In her freshmen year, Johnson received a 30 percent scholarship. Her sophomore year, Johnson's coach at Rutgers increased that scholarship to 90 percent and promised Johnson that she was going to be the team's ace for the future.
Little did she know that her coach planned on reducing her scholarship significantly to recruit more pitchers despite giving Holly the idea that she would remain Rutgers' number one pitcher.
"I was extremely disappointed and it was hard to handle when I heard the news that my scholarship was decreased," Johnson said. "I knew that I would have to transfer somewhere else and I was just overall upset that my coach went back on his word."
Curtis Johnson was just as upset at the situation as Holly was.
"The coach reduced her scholarship to the point where it was difficult for [us] to afford payment for the school," Curtis Johnson said. "We were in some financial trouble at the time and so I felt it was wrong of him to increase her scholarship and then bump it back down."
Johnson made the radical decision to tell her coach that she was not going to come back next season and that she was going to transfer.
Like many times before, Johnson had to move once again, but this time to a more familiar setting. Johnson transferred back home to attend UB where should would need to work on fitting in once again not only on the softball team, but in a much bigger university.
"I always considered UB a school that I would attend," said Johnson. "I was excited to come back home but was also nervous for the difficult transition it would take."
Curtis Johnson felt that she had made the right decision to come back home and continue her softball play and academic career but at the same time wanted her to get out of Buffalo and experience other places.
"In a selfish way, yes, I was really happy to hear that she was coming home," Curtis Johnson said. "But at the same time, I felt Buffalo was a dying area and I had previously stressed to Holly to go away to college and not look back."
"HoJo" was eager to get out on the mound and play for her new team but still had to adjust to her new teammates and her new coaching staff.
"For the most part, everyone accepted me but I still kind of felt like an outcast," Johnson said. "I felt as though there was some jealousy amongst the other pitchers when it was announced that I would become the starting pitcher. At times I wasn't sure how to act around my new teammates and it made me feel slightly awkward."
She would seek guidance from sophomore outfielder and long time friend Kelli Gleiser. Gleiser grew up in the same Buffalo area as Johnson and could relate to her on a personal level.
"I have been playing travel ball with HoJo since I was about 11 or 12 years old," Gleiser said. "She actually helped coach one of the team's that I played for and through playing together and her coaching me, I got to know her really well. Also the fact that I transferred to UB from St. Bonaventure at the same time that she did definitely helped her cause as she now had someone to relate to."
Gleiser is two years younger than Johnson, but felt she knew Johnson better than anyone else on the team.
"HoJo is so different outside UB softball," Gleiser said. "At first glance, she seems quiet and shy but she's totally outgoing and a goofball at times."
Gleiser agrees that it was a rough period for Johnson the first year she transferred to Buffalo.
"Since HoJo is shy, I felt as though the players on this team were not very accepting as they did not take the time to get to know her and try to help her during a rough spot," Gleiser said. "Since I know her, I know how to deal with her and know how to handle her when she shuts down. But this year, things are very different with HoJo as she has come out of her shell and has really opened up to everyone."
Now fully adjusted to a new environment, Johnson is thriving not only on the mound, but in the classroom as well. She plans on going to medical school at Buffalo and still finds time to separate sports from academics.
Head coach Jennifer Teague has watched Johnson flourish into not only an all-round player but an all-around person.
"I expected more from her this year than last year and she is really stepping up to the plate," Teague said. "She's the type of person that needs to know why she's doing something before she really buys into it and this year, she has done anything and everything we ask of her."
Johnson's father attends almost every game she plays in, remaining her biggest supporter. Her teammates have grown to love her and depend on her not only out on the field, but in the classroom as well.
"HoJo always finds time to tutor myself and other girls on the team whether it be on the bus back from an away game or in our rooms at night," said freshmen catcher Alexis Curtiss. "HoJo is so smart and will always go to extreme lengths to help me with my math and chemistry homework. One time I had a homework due before class but I was late to class but HoJo wouldn't let me go until I finished the homework."
Although she does miss bowling, Johnson admits that her bowling career helped pave the way for her softball career.
"I basically learned how to pitch when I learned how to bowl," Johnson said. "The way I bowl is actually the same way I throw my curve ball in softball. I am glad that I chose softball, but every now and then, when I watch professional bowling on TV, I think to myself that I can do so much better than them and that's the frustrating part."
Johnson still remains optimistic and believes that she will one day become a professional bowler.
"You can only play softball until your body can't handle it anymore," Johnson said. "When that time comes for me, I'm definitely going to turn back to bowling."
Her road to success and acceptance has not been an easy one. She has endured multiple obstacles throughout her life. Her knack for change followed by immediate adjustment reflects the winning mentality that Johnson carries with her whether it's on the mound, in the classroom, or between the lanes.
Her end result sums up her early lifestyle and the events that helped shape it. Life is not a perfect game - Johnson he knows that all too well.
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