Womans Softball, Japan Upsets USA 3-1

August 21, 2008 Iron Mill Interactive Media politics 0

Japan pulled off the biggest upset in the world of Softball, and perhaps of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, defeating the previously unbeatable United States 3-1 in the gold medal game at Fengtai Softball Field on Thursday, August 21.

Japan put the first run of the game on the board in the third inning. Karino Ayumi beat out a ground ball hit deep to shortstop, allowing Mishina Masumi to score from third base. It was the first earned run given up by any of the Team USA pitchers in the tournament.

The second earned run came when Japan’s center fielder Yamada Eri dropped one of Cat Osterman‘s pitches over the center field fence to lead off the fourth inning.

The United States got one run back in the bottom of the inning. Leadoff batter Crystl Bustos connected with a Ueno Yukiko pitch and pumped it into the right center field stands. The homerun was Bustos’s sixth of the Games and the 14th in her Olympic career, both Olympic records.

But the wheels came off for the US team in the top of the seventh inning. Two errors, including one on a play at the plate by relief pitcher Monica Abbott, enabled Hirose Megu to score Japan’s third run and end the United State’s domination of the sport at the Olympics.

Ueno, who pitched 21 innings over two games Wednesday to get Japan into the gold medal games, picked up the victory after losing to Team USA the previous day. She pitched all seven innings, giving up one run, five hits and two walks. She struck out four batters to win her fifth game of the tournament.

Osterman shouldered the loss for the pre-tournament favorites, her first of the Games. She gave up two runs on three hits in five innings, striking out nine batters. Abbott gave up one run and two hits in two innings of work, striking out three batters.