Last summer at the World Cup of Softball III in Oklahoma City the buzz in the press box wasn’t the dominating (ho-hum) performance of Team USA—it was a phantom injury that kept Japan’s best pitcher, Yukiko Ueno, out of the tournament.

The word was Ueno wasn’t truly hurt; she had played just a week prior. Instead, it was speculated, Team Japan didn’t want to give the Americans a chance to face Ueno—a talented hurler who had handed Team USA their first loss in Olympic competition since Sept. 21, 2000 at Sydney—before Beijing.

13 months later it might have been the decisive factor in helping Japan to an improbable upset of Team USA.

Last night Ueno snapped Team USA’s 22-game Olympic winning streak en route to a 3-1 victory and first gold medal. Ueno pitched seven innings, one day after she pitched 21 to get the Japanese into the gold-medal game.

What makes the defeat especially bitter is that it is the sport's final appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years.

Having covered this team for the last three years it’s hard to put into words the disappointment this team must have felt. One needs only to see the sight of players such as Crystl Bustos and Tairia Flowers leave their cleats at home plate—a symbolic gesture demonstrating their decision to retire from international competition.

So where does Team USA go from here? And will this help or hurt the game of softball?

The good news: Team USA has dominated every one of their opponents during the Beijing Olympics. The bad news: Team USA has dominated every one of their opponents during the Beijing Olympics.

There was a time when the competitive balance of fastpitch softball on the international level was fairly even. During the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the distance between the pitching mound and home plate was a paltry 40 feet; leading to close—if high-scoring games--that gave any international team a chance to win.

"Granted the games went too long but at least they were competitive and everybody had a chance to beat us,” said  Hall of Fame softballer Michele Smith . “Australia had a chance to beat us and did. Japan had a chance to beat us and did beat us. China did the same thing. That's exciting."

Some fear the now standard 43 feet between mound and plate in international play, which was introduced to cut down on scoring, has produced a competitive advantage for a dominant USA Softball pitching staff that is almost impossible to hit.

And losing the Olympics might be the price we pay for success.

We're Number One

Everyone has a theory about what happened. Why a sport that seemed to be ascending in the world of international competition was suddenly removed from the Olympic rotation after the 2008 games in Beijing.

Some, such as Smith, think softball got lumped in with the national pastime unintentionally. "I think they expected to make that decision for baseball and not for softball. It was a comedy of events for softball to get voted out." Others think it's nothing more than an Anti-American bias. (Check any softball message board for affirmation to this fact.)

Others, like shortstop Natasha Watley of the U.S. National team, think the international fan base just isn't there. "Softball is a great spectator sport. We have great fans here in the U.S. But I think that's where we're hurting. It's not a world-wide sport."

But everyone agrees that it's imperative to get softball back in the Olympics. Not just so players like Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch have places to throw their devastating riseballs but for countries who depend on international Olympic funding to support their teams and promote softball in their respective countries.

"I worry about the Australian teams--Italy, Great Britain, and Greece," Smith points out. "Any of the teams that were really starting to make some progress in the European countries where we have to get stronger--it's essentially going to kill them over there."

Beijing or Bust

Osterman echoes the sentiments of many current and former USA softball players when she stresses the significance of this year’s games in China. "This is one of our last go-arounds. We're ready to put everything we have into it."

But it may be the performance of the Chinese National Team that determines softball's chances for inclusion in the 2016 games. Of all the rising teams in international play, nobody has improved faster or spent more money leading up to the games than China.

So if you see some members of the USA Softball fraternity privately waving a Chinese flag during the Olympic Games you'll know it's not just case of conflicted loyalties -- but self-preservation.

BEIJING, China --- The first night game of the 2008 Olympic Games proved to be a special one for the USA Softball team as winning pitcher Monica Abbott ( Salinas, Calif.) tossed a perfect five inning 8-0 victory over the Netherlands and the U.S. set the Olympic record for overall home runs in the Games with 12. A 6’3” south paw, Abbott recorded the first-ever perfect game by a U.S. pitcher in an Olympic Games, recording nine strikeouts in the 15 batters she faced.

“I am really excited,” smiled Abbott. “I kind of had a goal to come out and throw one when I was named to the team. I was glad I was able to go out and make some good pitches work and I had some great plays made today by the defense with Lovie (Jung), Tairia (Flowers) and obviously Bergy’s (Laura Berg) catch in right field. You can’t really ask for much more than that and I was just trying to take it one pitch at a time and stay focused for each one.”

The U.S. saw three long balls clear the fences for another Olympic record of most runs hit in an Olympic Games by a team. Currently, the U.S. has 12 total after three came tonight from Jessica Mendoza ( Camarillo, Calif.), Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.), and Tairia Flowers ( Tucson, Ariz.). The previous record was held by Japan and Australia with 11 total in the 1996 Olympic Games.

With the win, the U.S. is 6-0 with its final round robin match up against China on Monday at Noon/Local. The U.S. also now knows it will be the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs on Wednesday, August 20 and will match up with No. 2 seed Japan at 9:30 a.m. at Fengtai Field. The No. 3 seed is Australia and the No. 4 seed is TBD on Monday, August 18. The playoffs follow the ISF page system with the gold medal game on Thursday, August 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Natasha Watley ( Irvine, Calif.) led the game on a positive start with a slap base hit through the left side continuing her hit streak to six consecutive games. Watley was later out at second with a fielder’s choice from Caitlin Lowe ( Tustin, Calif.). Mendoza then took a pitch off the side of her body from Venezuela starting pitcher Rebecca Soumer sending her 60 feet to first base forcing Lowe to second. Hitting .500, Bustos connected on her fifth RBI of the Olympics with a line drive through the left side sending Lowe across home plate for the 1-0 U.S. advantage.

In the bottom of the second inning, with one out, Flowers put her home run mark on the Games with a towering shot to left center for a solo home run and her first ever of the Olympic Games. With a 2-0 lead, right fielder Laura Berg ( Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) sent a blooper to left field and earned a hit and advanced to second on a fielding error from Venezuela’s Marloes Fellinger. Berg later scored her second run of the Olympics when the hot hitting Watley sent her second hit of the game over the third baseman’s head for the RBI and 3-0 lead. Lowe then repeated the first inning with a fielder’s choice resulting in Watley out at second base before Mendoza roped what looked like a home run to centerfield but was caught and ended the inning.

Continuing to lead from the plate, Bustos drove in her fourth home run of the Olympics with the second pitch of her at bat to lead the bottom of the third inning. A line drive just over the 220 fences in centerfield, the home run tied the Olympic record for most home runs recorded by a team with 11. Australia and Japan both had 11 during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. With a solid 4-0 advantage, Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) and Stacey Nuveman ( La Verne, Calif.) both reached on base hits before the Netherlands brought in Judith van Kampen from the bullpen. The new pitcher didn’t faze Lovie Jung ( Fountain Valley, Calif.), who extended her hit streak to all six games of the Olympics, with an RBI base hit through the middle scoring Kretschman for the 5-0 lead. Another run was added in when Berg singled to right field plating Nuveman who marked the 6-0 lead.

As Abbott continued her perfection from the circle, the U.S. closed in on the run-ahead rule scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mendoza roped her fourth home run of the Games to centerfield to kick start the inning while Bustos followed up with an infield single to the shortstop. A wild pitch from van Kampen moved Bustos to second before rookie Vicky Galindo ( Union City, Calif.) inked her first ever Olympic RBI with a single to left field pushing Bustos across home plate for the eventual 8-0 win.

BEIJING, China --- With just two days before competition, the USA Softball team has had an eventful past couple of days in China. Back-to-back visits from President Bush and participation in an Opening Ceremonies celebration that amazed the World, the team is enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime experience and ready to take the field on Tuesday against Venezuela atNoon/local time.

Beginning on 08/08/08, 13 members of the U.S. team participated in an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by participating in the Opening Ceremonies decked head to toe in their parade uniforms. With over 700 athletes, the evening began with mingling of the U.S. athletes before the former President Bush and current President Bush along with First Lady Laura Bush addressed the U.S. athletes.

"Meeting the Bush family was awesome," said Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.). "They have done great service for our country and it was so neat to see them out there supporting us. They are big supporters of Olympic sports and they definitely want to see softball in 2016."

The cameras were flashing as members of the softball team were sending their well wishes to members of the U.S. Men's and Women's Basketball teams, tennis teams, track and field and volleyball. In fact, a challenge was offered up from LeBron James and Jason Kidd to try and hit off of Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) and Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.). All in good fun, the laughs were exchanged and the 'The Challenge' date is To Be Determinedfollowing the Olympics.

The athletes paraded into the Bird's Nest(Track and Field Venue) representing the Red, White and Blue experiencing moments to last a lifetime.

"It was so amazing and wonderful to see the torch lit. There is nothing anything like it, it was so cool," said first-time Olympian Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.). "Meeting all the U.S. athletes before was incredible because we were all dressed the same as one team. Everyone was taking pictures, wishing good luck.. It was so neat to meet all the famous athletes."
Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.) who missed the Opening Ceremonies in 2004 was equally thrilled at being a part of the event.

"What an amazing night. It was a lot of fun getting a chance before we lined up to mingle with the other U.S. Athletes in the delegation. Also meeting the President... Wow, just a crazy, crazy night. The best part was the guy running around the top with the images of the torch being shown. Being in the middle of the venue and watching the fireworks was an incredible feeling."

After the incredible evening, the U.S. returned to the field on Saturday afternoon for a noon practice to which the current President Bush stopped by for a visit.

"Seeing and talking with the President twice in two days is pretty exciting," said Finch "He came to practice and greeted our team and also called out our team huddle of "Who do you play for?...USA. Laura Berg, our prankster, pulled her classic chalk handprint and he was such a good sport. Wow, what an incredible past couple of days."

The President and his entourage watched the team warm up and he was impressed with the power of Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.) as he gave her a high-five after batting practice.

The team was able to pose for a photo for the press who were in attendance as the President gave his remarks for the sport.
The president called the group "the gold medal champs," and said that softball should be returned to the Olympic program. "It's good for the world to have girls playing softball, and these women are going to show girls how to win," he said.

It was back to business once the President departed as the U.S. had an inner squad scrimmage before leaving practice at 2 p.m. The entire 15-member team then headed to the Main Press Center for a pre-competition press conference.

BEIJING (Aug. 12, 2008) -- The U.S. Men's Volleyball Team started out slow but picked up speed on Tuesday in its 24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21 victory over Italy in an Olympic pool play match at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

In their second Olympic match without U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon who is still tending to his wife and mother-in-law at a Beijing hospital, the U.S. Men improve their record to 2-0 in Pool A. They will play Bulgaria (1-0 prior to its match against Japan on Tuesday) at 10 p.m. on Thursday at Capital Indoor Stadium.

Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai'i) led Team USA with 23 points on a match-high 19 kills, three blocks and one assist. Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) added 20 points on 18 kills, two blocks. Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored 12 points on seven kills, three blocks and two aces.

"Today's match had a lot to do with our serve and their serve receive," said U.S. Interim Head Coach Ron Larsen (Lafayette, Calif.). "It helped with our block."

Team USA finished with four aces and 15 blocks as opposed to Italy with three aces and nine blocks.

The U.S. Men completed 58 of 111 kill attempts for 36 percent efficiency. Italy completed 50 of 119 kill attempts for 24 percent.

"I think I was having difficulties in hitting," said Italy's Alessandro Fei, who finished with 11 points on nine kills and two aces. His teammate Hristo Zlatanov led Italy with 19 points on 16 kills and three blocks. "Of course the Americans played very well. So if you combine the two things together, this is the result."

Among other scorers, Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) scored 11 points on eight kills, two blocks and one ace. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) totaled 10 points on five kills and a match-high five blocks. U.S. setter Lloy Ball (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had one point on one kill.

Ball was credited with 41 running sets for an average of 10.25 per set.

U.S. libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) was credited with 10 digs and three faults on 15 attempts. He was also credited with 25 "excellent" receptions on 33 attempts for a successful percentage of 76 percent.

Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.), Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Scott Touzinsky (St. Louis, Mo.) all played as substitutes.

In the first set, Italy held an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout and led 16-14 at the second. With the United States trailing 16-18, a block from Millar and an ace by Salmon tied the score. Italy reached set point first at 24-23, but then committed an error to tie the score. A Zlatanov gave Italy a second set point at 25-24 and Alessandro's ace ended the set.

"I thought we started the match waiting to see Italy's strategy," Hoff said. "After the first and second sets, our block was very efficient." After that our offense got going and felt comfortable knowing the block was going well."

The United States led the second set 8-5 at the first technical timeout and 16-14 at the second. Italy came close to tying the score at 22-21, but Salmon's kill kept it out of reach. Lee won the set for Team USA with a kill.

The third set seemed like it would be close at first as the U.S. held a slim 7-6 lead. However, it reached the first technical timeout first on an Italian error, then scored four straight points behind the serving of Salmon to lead 12-6. Team USA extended the lead to 16-8 at the second technical timeout. Zlatanov scored one point on a kill, and Team USA scored the next three to make it 20-9. Italy never recovered.

Team USA used three kills from Priddy along with kills from Millar, Stanley and Lee to take an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout of the fourth set and led 16-12 at the second. The United States reached match point first at 24-19, but a Ball serving error brought Italy to 20 and Alberto Cisolla's kill made it 24-21 before Stanley ended the match with a kill.

The Men's team final will take place tonight, the third day of Artistic Gymnastics competition, as eight teams will compete for the gold. In qualifications, China finished with 373.600 points, followed by Japan at 369.500 and Russia with 365.425, just .225 ahead of the Americans.

The favorite to win tonight is China, who dominated the qualification stage, but defending champion, Japan, will not go down without a fight. Japan delivered a decent performance at the qualification stage, and has the potential to get much better scores tonight.

Russia's performance tonight may depend on whether or not Konstantin Pluzhnikov is able to participate. Pluzhnikov fell off the rings at the end of the session, landing on the back of his neck. He walked off the podum, then lay down on the sidelines as trainers diagnosed his injury. Pluzhnikov did walk off on his own at the end of the competition, but his status is still up in the air.

Although the Hamm brothers will not be competing in the Olympics this year, don't count the U.S. out just yet. Sasha Artemev, who joined the squad Thursday night, and Raj Bhavsar are the Hamm brothers replacements, and both performed well the other night.

The 2004 Athens runner-up, who finished sixth in the qualifications, lacks experience, but not heart. The United States, led by fist-pumping Jonathan Horton, who went wild the other night during competition upon seeing a U.S. flag, knows they have a lot to prove and will do whatever it takes to not let everyone back home down.

Does the U.S. have enough heart to medal? Will anyone be able to overpower China? Who do you think will take home the gold tonight?

With the Olympic games rapidly approaching, one question has been looming in my mind...what caliber of players will be representing their respective countries in Beijing? Between World Cup qualifying matches, Champions League matches, the start of league play and other important matches around the world , the Olympics have to be a secondary concern for most clubs/countries. With that being said, I decided to do a little research....

The Olympic tournament is by definition an under-23 event, but each team can field three over-age players, who the clubs are not required to release. In a recent statement, FIFA reminded clubs worldwide "that the release of players under the age of 23 for the Men's Olympic Soccer Tournament is mandatory for all clubs. For Beijing 2008 the same principle shall apply". Clubs are not required to release their over-aged players, however Sepp Blatter (FIFA President and IOC member) has repeatedly urged them to do so out of respect "for the Olympic spirit".

So, what does this mean? Well, in spite of President Blatter's strong words of encouragement, I think we will be seeing a whole new host of young, green talent...and a handful of semi-retired veterans. As much as I would love to see such world renown stars as Ronaldinho, Landan Donovan and Robinho returning to the international stage, I sincerely doubt the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and the US Men's National Team (1st Team) will give a second thought about releasing their star players...but only time will tell.

Worker's Stadium-Beijing