MIDLAND, Texas - The USA Softball team scored 13 runs in route to a 13-0 victory over the ASA Texas All-Stars in front of 6,371 at Citi Bank Ball Park in Midland, Texas to extend their KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour record to 51-1. The team battled the West Texas wind but still connected on 17 hits, with Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.) explosive at the plate going a perfect 5-for-5 with three runs scored and three runs.

Lead off batter Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.) wasted no time putting runners on taking a 1-0 pitch to left field for a triple. Lowe brought her home with a single to left field. A double play of a pop up by Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.) and a putout at first when Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.) didn’t return to first, left the team with a 1-0 lead into the second.
Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) made her 13th start of the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour allowing a runner to reach in the first off a walk but allowing no runs to score.

The ASA Texas All-Stars did what very few opponents this year have done loading up the bases in the third but Osterman did what she does best retiring the last batter swinging. Colleen Kimbro started it off in the third for the All-Stars reaching on a throwing error by Osterman. A single to shortstop and a base on balls loaded it up but a strikeout to Jordan Daniels kept runs off the board.

Watley again led the team in the third with a single to third base. Lowe and Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.) hit singles of their own to load up the bases for Bustos, with the crowd cheering for a homerun. Bustos did not disappoint the Midland crowd with a roped homerun to right field giving the team a 5-0 lead. Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.) ripped a double to left field and was followed by Stacey Nuveman (La Verne, Calif.) with a walk. A single to centerfield by Lovie Jung (Fountain Valley, Calif.) plated Duran. Watley, with her second hit of the inning, hit a double over the left fielder’s head to clear the base paths and edge the lead to 8-0.

“It felt good to get some good hits at the plate and I saw the ball well today so that was nice,” said Watley of her at bats. “It’s one of those nights where you walk away feeling good about the game but still know that you have a lot to keep on preparing for. It’s a positive way to head into a week break but I know we will all come back ready to keep on improving Olympic Games.”

The team tacked on two runs in the fourth taking advantage of two errors by the left fielder. Bustos singled advancing to second on an error by the left fielder Katy Gutierrez. Vicky Galindo (Union City, Calif.), entering to pinch run for Bustos, scored from second on another error by Gutierrez after she over threw on a single by Duran. A groundout RBI by Jung gave the Red, White and Blue a 10-0 lead after four.

In the fifth inning, the team started playing by exhibition rules placing a runner at first to start off the inning. Nina Cabrales started out on first advancing to second on a fielder’s choice by Maritza Martinez who was also safe. A single to second base by Kimbro loaded the bases with no out but three strikeouts by the south paw Osterman left the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the fifth, back-to-back singles by leadoff hitter Watley and Laura Berg (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) set up the two-RBI double by Mendoza. A single by Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) pushed Watley across the plate to give the USA Softball team a 13-0 win.

Osterman was again tested in the seventh when a runner was put on second, eventually loading the bases off a single and a walk. A pop up to shortstop left the runners stranded to close out of the game.

Osterman, with her 12th win of the season, struck out 13 while walking five and allowing three hits.

The team is now on a much deserved week break after spending the month of June on the road. The team will meet back together in Portland, Ore., on July 8th for a game against the Portland ASA All-Stars at 7:00 p.m. at Erv Lind Stadium.

  (Game report provided by USA  Softball)</p>

Bryan Clay, Trey Hardee, and Tom Pappas qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team

EUGENE, Ore.- Bryan Clay built a foundation for a run at a gold medal in Beijing when he won the decathlon Monday night at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials with the highest point total in the world this season. Clay made his second straight Olympics with a personal-record score of 8,832 points. That marked the best score by an American in 16 years, the best in the world in four years, and beat Dan O'Brien's Olympic Trials record.

"From the get-go, I said, 'This is what I'm going to do, these are the marks I'm going to put up,' " Clay said. "I don't care if it's headwinds, tailwinds. I don't care how I'm feeling. I'm going to make it happen today, and that's what I did."

Bryan Clay 1st Place - 8,832       Trey Hardee 2nd Place - 8,534         Tom Pappas 3rd Place - 8,511

Pappas, 31, used a first place in the pole vault (17-0¼ ) and a second place in discus to become the first U.S. decathlete to qualify for three Olympics. Hardee won the hurdles and was third in the javelin. 

"Yesterday I wasn't disciplined enough. I never got in a rhythm," Clay said. "I went home last night, talked with my coaches and made the decision in my head that I was going to come out and make this happen. No matter what."

Clay was disappointed with his results during Sunday's opening events that left him with a narrow lead over Hardee, the 2006 NCAA champion, and Pappas, the 2003 world champion. But Clay found his form quickly Monday with a solid race in the 110-meter hurdles. He had the best marks in discus and javelin and cleared 16 feet, 4¾ inches in the pole vault. He needed to run the 1,500 in 4 minutes, 53 seconds to notch his personal best. He finished in 4:50.97.

On the fourth day of the U.S. Olympic track and field trials Clay won the classic event of Jim Thorpe and Rafer Johnson and Bruce Jenner and Dan O'Brien with a lifetime best 8,832 points, a bit short of O'Brien's American record 8,891 but still the highest score by an American in 16 years. Among Americans, only O'Brien, with two performances, has ever scored more than Clay, whose performance Sunday and Monday equals the 11th highest score in the history of the decathlon. Clay was followed on the U.S. Olympic team by Trey Hardee with a lifetime best 8,534 and Tom Pappas with 8,511. Pappas became the first man to make three Olympic teams in the decathlon.

"I think there's tons of room for improvement," said Clay, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist and '05 world champion. "This showed that mentally I am a very tough competitor. I am ready to break the world record. It's a matter of time. If everything is aligned ... and I can put all 10 events together, I can score really high."

The world record of 9,026 points is held by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, the first man to crack the 9,000-point barrier. Sebrle set his record in 2001 and is not thought to be a 9,000-point man any longer. Clay will go to the Beijing Olympics in August as the favorite to win the gold medal.

Feel free to come back to the Active.com 2008 Olympics Blog for a full series of Decathlon posts, by Coach Corey, leading up to the Olympic Games in Beijing. The count down is on as were only 53 days away from finding out WHO will be the "World's Greatest Athlete"!

It was an impressive weekend in the pool for Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff as both captured world records at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

You know it’s going to be an exciting meet when Phelps and Ryan Lochte jump in the pool. The two friends and rivals continued to push each other to new heights this weekend in the 400 IM and were neck and neck for the majority of the race. In the last 20 meters Phelps pulled away from Lochte to set a new world record with a finish of 4:05.25.  Lochte came in less than a second later with a finish of 4:06.08.  Both times beat Phelps’ previous world mark of 4:06.22.  I have no doubt that the two competitors will be eager to go stroke for stroke again in August at the Beijing Games. It will be an exciting event that I will be sure to watch in a few short months.

Katie Hoff also broke a record on Sunday in the 400 IM with a finish of 4:31.12.  Her time beats the previous world mark of 4:31.46 set March 22 by Stephanie Rice of Australia.

It should be a great year for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team!

On August 22 in Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympic Games someone will be crowned the title known as the World's Greatest Athlete.

Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the man who wins the decathlon. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912. The current holder of the "title" is Czech National Roman Sebrle, who has held the title five of the past seven years as well as the highest score ever.

The word decathlon is of Greek origin (deka c-main +athlon c-main).

The contest is a menu of athletic events, testing an individual’s speed,strength, skill, endurance, and perseverance; it includes five events on each of two successive days. The first day is one of speedy movement, explosive power, and jumping ability; the second emphasizes technique and endurance.

Day 1

• 100 Meters

• Long Jump

• Shot Put

• High Jump

• 400 Meters

Day 2

• 100 Meter Hurdles

• Discuss

• Pole Vault

• Javelin

• 1500 Meters

USA Decathlon Olympic Trials Day 1: Sunday 6/29/2008

Bryan Clay clings to a 20-point margin over Trey Hardee after the first day of he US Olympic Trials Decathlon in Eugene. The Helsinki World champion’s total of 4476 was just a breath ahead of his 24-year-old rival at 4454, as five-time US champion (and Paris World champion) Tom Pappas was close by in third with 4405.

Bryan Clay set the tone of the competition quickly by sprinting the 100 metres in 10.39 (against a 0.4 wind), which was a decathlon PB. Trey Hardee followed Clay across the finish in 10.43, not far off his own best of 10.35.

After five events, Clay has 4,476 points and a 22-point lead over Trey Hardee.Tom Pappas, who was raised in Glendale and attended nearby Lane Community College, launched a monster throw of 56 feet 7½ inches in the shot put. He is third with 4,405 points.

Oregon sophomore Ashton Eaton used the day's best 400 meters time of 47.07 seconds to pull into fifth place. The overflow Hayward Field crowd of 20,733 clearly was playing favorites. This was obvious early

in the day during the long jump, the competition's second event. That was before many of the fans arrived, but the ones there would rhythmically clap before each attempt by Pappas and Eaton.

"Those guys, they get on the runway and everybody in the stands is clapping for them," Clay said. "It would be like me having a meet back home in Hawaii. I don't think they're going to do any better than they were ready to do. But when you're at home and you're doing stuff in front of your home crowd it just makes things a little easier."

It's shaping up as a very interesting conclusion, beginning at 11:30 a.m. today with the 110-meter high hurdles. Pappas is a five-time U.S. champion. He's been around the block. Hardee set the 2006 NCAA decathlon record. And who knows what to expect from Eaton, a relative novice, who came from behind to win this year's NCAA decathlon.

"I think because my training was going so well I expected to come out and not necessarily blow away the field, but I was expecting to do certain things in certain events," Clay said. "I really wasn't mentally prepared to have to fight for every single centimeter and every single hundredth of a second, and that's what I ended up having to do."

Today's decathlon events are the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500.

Lisa Fernandez, a three-time Olympic champion and one of the best pitchers in the world, wasn’t good enough to beat out Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott to make the U.S. National Team’s final Olympic roster as the team readies for Beijing.

Fernandez admitted she was having a tough time getting her skills back, but was confident she could still play at a high level.

"I think I still have it," she said. "I think the advantage I have is my experience. I have the heart."

And she does. I’ve followed Fernandez’s career dating back to 1994 during her days at UCLA, where she led the Bruins to two NCAA championships. I watched her win a gold medal in the first Olympic Games that included the sport of softball. Every girl on my softball team had the Lisa Fernandez Louisville Slugger bat.

The truth is her vast amounts of experience and heart weren’t enough to earn her a spot in the Olympic rotation. When I interviewed Fernandez at the 2007 World Cup of Softball and asked her if she was planning on mounting a comeback, I believed she had a good chance of making it. Not only did she dominate opponents in the batter’s box with world-class style, but was a skilled third baseman and very strong hitter. 

However, head coach Mike Candrea didn’t think Fernandez got back to her usual dominating self after taking three years off to start a family.

"I was really hoping she would get close to where she was in 2004," said Candrea. " I wanted her to go out on top."

So while 37-year-old Fernandez has been left off the Olympic roster, she has been named a replacement player in the event someone gets injured. I don't think Candrea made a mistake but I sincerely wish that the Olympic roster allowed for one more player. I believe she is still the greatest softball player to ever play the game and appreciate the tremendous role she played in advancing the sport and giving female athletes someone to look up to.

Do you think Lisa Fernandez should have been included on the Olympic roster because of her versatility and experience—or does Team USA have the most solid squad possible now? 

The 2008 USA Softball Olympic team roster:

Monica Abbott, Salinas, Calif. (University of Tennessee ’07)

Laura Berg, Santa Fe Springs, Calif. (Graduate ’98)

Crystl Bustos, Canyon Country, Calif. (Palm Beach C.C.)

Andrea Duran, Selma, Calif. (UCLA ’06)

Jennie Finch, La Mirada, Calif. (Arizona ’02)

Tairia Flowers, Tucson, Ariz. (UCLA ’04)

Vicky Galindo, Union City, Calif. (Cal ’05)

Lovieanne Jung, Fountain Valley, Calif. (Arizona ’03)

Kelly Kretschman, Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. (Alabama ’01)

Lauren Lappin, Anaheim, Calif. (Stanford ’06)

Caitlin Lowe, Tustin, Calif. (Arizona ’07)

Jessica Mendoza, Camarillo, Calif. (Stanford ’02)

Stacey Nuveman, La Verne, Calif. (UCLA ’02)

Cat Osterman, Houston, Texas (Texas ’07)

Natasha Watley, Irvine, CA. (UCLA ’05)