Not letting a chance for publicity pass her by, Miss Iowa Katherine Connors, 20, of Bettendorf has issued a rebuttal to Miguel Batista's quote. Batista, if you're too lazy to click that link or scroll down the page, replaced Stephen Strasburg for an emergency start last night and explained the boos from fans thusly: "Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe and you end up having Miss Iowa." Connors issued a statement. We found it via a Des Moines Register blog:

"I know I can throw a pitch or two! The question is, can Miguel Batista walk the runway in a swimsuit?"

But that wasn't the end of it.

The Miss USA folks weren't done, with this statement being released by Craig Heitkamp, executive co-director of the Miss Iowa Pageant:

"Congratulations to Mr. Batista for an outstanding pitching performance last night. Sometimes it's great to see the underdog win. We would like to formally invite Mr. Batista to serve on the judging panel at the Miss Iowa USA Pageant October 23 & 24 in Ames, Iowa."

Batista, by the way, threw five shutout innings ... which seems to be worthy of Miss Iowa.

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Also, this is a little old by now, but we tweeted it yesterday and we still can't stop watching the best soccer goal celebration we have ever seen. Iceland!