United States at The 2008 Summer Olympics - Softball

Softball

The team roster for USA Softball was released on March 28, 2008. It included a fifteen-person team roster and a replacement roster of three players. The United States brought an impressive softball record to Beijing, winning every Olympic and world title since 1982. Prior to Beijing, it had a record of 106–10 in World Championships and 32–4 in the Olympics. It had won all three Olympic gold medals in softball, and outscored opponents 51–1 in Athens. American dominance may have contributed to the IOC's decision to remove the sport from the Olympics in 2005.

But at the Beijing Olympics, the United States lost to Japan 3–1 in the gold medal game. Japanese pitcher Yukiko Ueno had an outstanding performance after pitching 21 innings the day before. Following the surprise loss, the top three teams spelled "2016" using softballs in front of home plate in the hopes of Olympic reinstatement.

Team roster

  • Monica Abbott
  • Laura Berg
  • Crystl Bustos
  • Andrea Duran
  • Jennie Finch
  • Tairia Flowers
  • Vicky Galindo
  • Lovieanne Jung
  • Kelly Kretschman
  • Lauren Lappin
  • Caitlin Lowe
  • Jessica Mendoza
  • Stacey Nuveman
  • Cat Osterman
  • Natasha Watley

Head Coach

  • Mike Candrea

Assistant Coaches

  • Chuck D'Arcy
  • Karen Jonhs
  • John Rittman

Replacement roster

  • Lisa Fernandez
  • Alicia Hollowell
  • Jenny Topping
Results

Group stage

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
United States 0 4 2 5 0 X X 11 11 0
Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 2
WP: Jennie Finch(1–0) LP: Johana Gómez(0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Natasha Watley(1), Caitlin Lowe(1), Crystl Bustos(1)
VEN: None


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Canada 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3
United States 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 8 6 1
WP: Cat Osterman(2–0) LP: Dione Meier(0–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
United States 1 0 5 1 X X X 7 10 0
Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 2 1
WP: Jennie Finch(2–0) LP: Su-Hua Lin(0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Jessica Mendoza(3)
TPE: None
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
China 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1
United States 9 0 0 0 X X X 9 9 0
WP: Cat Osterman(3–0) LP: Wei Lu(1–3)
Home runs:
CHN: None
USA: Kelly Kretschman(1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
United States 0 0 0 0 1 2 X 3 5 0
Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
WP: Cat Osterman(1–0) LP: Tanya Harding(0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Crystl Bustos(2)
AUS: None
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
United States 4 0 0 3 0 X X 7 9 0
Japan 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1
WP: Monica Abbott(1–0) LP: Naho Emoto(0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Natasha Watley(2), Jessica Mendoza(1,2), Crystl Bustos(3)
JPN: None
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
United States 1 2 3 2 X X X 8 13 0
Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 1
WP: Monica Abbott(2–0) LP: Rebecca Soumeru(0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Tairia Flowers(1), Crystl Bustos(4), Jessica Mendoza(4)
NED: None
Qualified for the semifinals
Eliminated

The top four teams will advance to the semifinal round.

Final group standings

Team W L RS RA WIN% GB Tiebreaker
United States 7 0 53 1 1.000 - -
Japan 6 1 23 13 .857 1 -
Australia 5 2 30 11 .714 2 -
Canada 3 4 17 23 .429 4 -
China 2 5 19 21 .286 5 -
Chinese Taipei 2 5 10 23 .286 5 -
Venezuela 2 5 15 35 .286 5 -
Netherlands 1 6 8 48 .143 6 -

Semifinals

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 6 0
Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0
WP: Monica Abbott(3–0) LP: Yukiko Ueno(3–1) Sv: Cat Osterman
Home runs:
USA: Crystl Bustos(5)
JPN: None

Gold medal match

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Japan 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 5 0
United States 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2
WP: Yukiko Ueno(5–1) LP: Cat Osterman(3–1)
Home runs:
JPN: Eri Yamada (2)
USA: Crystl Bustos (6)
Final rank
2 ! Silver

Official Olympic softball schedule

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