U.S. softball team advances to gold medal game

BEIJING -- Left to their own devices, pitchers Monica Abbott and Yukiko Ueno might have battled all day.But the Olympic softball tournament has a rule to help prevent that -- and the United States softball team has Crystl Bustos.Bustos' massive three-run homer backed eight-plus innings of three-hit pitching as the U.S. finally edged Japan, 4-1, in nine innings Wednesday to earn a place in Thursday's gold-medal game.The U.S. will have a rematch with Japan, which beat Australia later Wednesday to determine the second finalist. The Aussies claimed the bronze medal.Coach Mike Candrea called the two-hour, 37-minute battle with Japan -- the fourth time the teams have played extra innings in six Olympics meetings -- "softball at its best internationally."You saw great pitching," he said, "saw great defense, saw some great adjustments at the plate, saw the international tiebreaker ... a little bit of everything the sport has to offer."And it was just a tremendous effort on Monica's part. I thought she threw exceptionally well and gave us an opportunity to win the ballgame."That opportunity finally came once the tiebreaker -- which places a runner on second to start each inning -- went into effect in the eighth.Neither team capitalized on its first chance, but the U.S. had an ideal situation to start the ninth -- with its fastest runner, leadoff hitter Natasha Watley, placed on second and the heart of the lineup coming up.The first run came quickly, with Caitlin Lowe singling through Japan's drawn-in infield to make it 1-0."Any time you have Tasha on second, it does a lot for you," said Lowe. "Any ball I put in play, she's either going to advance or hopefully score."But given the tiebreaker format, when a run can be scored easily without a hit, the rest of the inning was crucial. Jessica Mendoza walked, and then Bustos unloaded on a 2-1 pitch from Ueno, hitting it two-thirds of the way up into the stands beyond the leftfield wall."I've seen her hit it harder," said Lowe, "but not in a bigger situation than that."Bustos said she finally saw the pitch she was looking for."Throughout the game, I was trying to make adjustments to her pitch and trying to hit what she was throwing, instead of waiting for my pitch," said Bustos, hitless with a strikeout in her first three at-bats."She was coming at me hard and she was going to try to beat me with my speed. And knowing with my last at-bat that she had jammed me up and in, I was thinking for sure she was coming inside, and so just waiting for that pitch. ... I knew she was going to bring it hard, and just trying to stay early enough to get my bat on it."Japan got one run back in the bottom of the ninth as Sachiko Ito singled home the tiebreaker runner on second, Motoko Fujimoto. Cat Osterman then came on in relief and retired the next three batters to keep the U.S. in position to win its fourth gold medal in four Olympics.Ueno (3-1) was outstanding, with eight strikeouts and two walks, but she so was Abbott (3-0), who had a perfect game against the Netherlands in the preliminary round.After allowing a two-out single in the first, Abbott retired the next 18 batters before walking Satoko Mubuchi and giving up a Rie Sato single with two outs in the seventh. But she struck out Megu Hirose to end the inning -- her 10th of 11 strikeouts -- and retired Japan in order in the eighth after the U.S. failed to capitalize in its first tiebreaker inning."Ueno is a great pitcher," said Abbott, "but we have some great batters, and we just need to give it some time. ... I tried to stay in the moment and come through with some big strikeouts. I knew it was going to be a fight."Although the U.S. won five of its seven preliminary-round games in five innings via the mercy rule, Abbott said she was prepared for the extra-inning contest."All throughout the (U.S. exhibition) tour, Coach (Candrea) was always stressing being prepared for the 20-inning game, the 16-inning game, the 14-inning game," she said. "So all throughout the tour, I was able to prepare mentally and physically and emotionally for those games that were going to be longer than seven innings."That's what you prepare for, the 14-inning game. And then when you only throw five innings, it's a bonus."U.S. players were hopeful that the quality of Wednesday's game provided a bonus in the ongoing efforts to have the sport reinstated for the 2016 Olympics."I think it definitely shows how good every country is," said Mendoza. "It's something we see away from the Olympics. Japan has beaten us every year; we have always played close games with them. ... "If people away from the Olympics could see how this game has grown -- I think a game like this shows that."(Contact David Lassen of the Ventura County Star in California at dlassen(at)venturacountystar.com.)