U.S. set to dominate Olympic softball farewell

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The U.S. women's softball team may have been too good for its own good. The truth is, it doesn't really know.What the team does know as it enters the Beijing Games is this could be its last chance to perform on the Olympic stage. And while it is determined to win a fourth gold medal, it also wants to do whatever it can to restore its sport to Olympic status.Softball has been voted out of the Olympics for the 2012 Games, after just four appearances, but could be restored for 2016 at an International Olympic Committee meeting next year.And so, while the U.S. team will play in China with both eyes on the prize, it is clearly sneaking an occasional glance at the future -- and wondering how it can influence that future."Definitely 2012 is at the back of everyone's mind," says pitcher Monica Abbott. "It's with us everywhere. It's like your computer or your cell phone. It never goes away."Part of the problem in trying to save softball as an Olympic sport, notes outfielder Jessica Mendoza, is no official explanation has ever been offered why the sport was eliminated, by a single vote, at a 2005 IOC meeting.Some believe it's because the U.S. has been too dominant, although team members dispute that perception. While they have won all three gold medals, and dominated the 2004 Olympic tournament -- going 9-0 and outscoring opponents 51-1 -- as recently as 2000, they went just 7-3, losing to Japan, China and Australia, the other three countries to have won softball medals. "If you go back to the '96 and 2000 Olympics," says pitcher Cat Osterman, "there was good competition and a lot of close games."Even if U.S. domination is the issue, Mendoza feels it should be irrelevant."If you see Michael Johnson running a race, and he beats someone by three strides, that's really dominating," says Mendoza. "But it's beautiful. It's beautiful to be able to see a human being excel so much at something he loves to do. And I feel like that's how people should see us."And it's not like we are so dominant. The last Olympics, we did extremely well, but since then, we've lost many, many times. The very next year we got our butts kicked over and over again by Japan."Softball may also have been hurt because while widespread -- the International Softball Federation has 130 member nations -- it is a minor sport in many of those countries, particularly in Europe, which holds the largest bloc of IOC votes. The U.S. players are willing to address that, as well.In her role as incoming president of the Women's Sports Foundation, Mendoza met with ISF president Don Porter and will head a task force to take current athletes to countries in need of softball instruction."Probably 70 percent of this team wants to be a part of it," says Mendoza, who has played professionally in Holland and traveled the world to give clinics. "... It's actually something that's never been done before, as far as U.S. Olympians wanting to not get paid and do whatever it takes to spread the sport."But first, there's an Olympic tournament to play, and the U.S. players hope to serve their sport in China by doing what they do best."If we go over to Beijing and we put on the best show you've ever seen in Olympic softball," says Osterman, "people are going to understand this game should stay in the Olympics."Adds infielder Crystl Bustos, "I also think what we've got to do is ask the people that are voting, that don't really quite understand it, to come out. Watch the sport, watch the game being played at its highest level, and see what exactly it does and what it means to people."That meaning extends far beyond the U.S., says pitcher Jennie Finch."Girls here have the opportunity of getting collage scholarships and continuing to play," she says. "But if you look outside, the Olympics is their one chance, their one ticket, their one opportunity."So I think it goes beyond the U.S. to continue to that dream, that goal, for the young girl in Croatia, or in China or Japan."(Contact David Lassen of the Ventura County Star in California at dlassen(at)VenturaCountyStar.com.)