BEIJING — After dominating softball to the point where the International Olympic Committee felt it best to eliminate the sport, the United States, winners of 22 consecutive Olympic games, found themselves in the midst of a truly rare occurrence Thursday night.
Having a truly awful game.
The pitching, heretofore unhittable, was ordinary. The clutch hitting, long a staple of the team, nonexistent. Even more shocking, the Americans lost their poise just when they needed it most.
The end result was a 3-1 loss to Japan in the 2008 gold medal game at Fengtai Softball Field, a decision akin to watching Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and the rest of the 1992 hoops Dream Team coming out on the short end against Angola.
“I think what it really came down to is that they played a better game than we did,” U.S. catcher Stacey Nuveman said. “This is a game of momentum and we kept giving them runs.”
Even the most avid basketball fan would have difficulty remembering the name of any opposing player who went against the Americans during the ’92 Games in Seoul. Perhaps if the Dream Team had lost, their vanquisher would have as big a name as Yukiko Ueno deserves.
Thursday’s effort marked the end of an incredible two days for the 26-year-old from Takasaka. On Wednesday, Ueno pitched nine innings in a 4-1 semifinal loss to the U.S. Under softball rules, Japan could still return to the gold medal game if it could beat Australia, the winner of the other semifinal.
That game went 12 innings, with Japan taking a 4-3 decision. The hurler for all 12 innings? Ueno.
Even after throwing 21 innings and an estimated 300 pitches the day before, Ueno was even tougher on Thursday. The Americans had numerous chances to break the game open, squandering scoring opportunities in the first and sixth innings, in the latter case, failing to score with the bases loaded and one out.
“You have to give tons of love to Ueno,” Nuveman said. “She pitched more than 50 innings over the week. We can sit here and talk about the things we didn’t do, but you have to give them credit for the things they did.”
In the long run, it’s possible that the biggest feat was paving the way for softball to make a return to the Games. While the IOC voted the sport out of the 2012 London Olympics, it could return in 2016 if the membership votes it back in during its 2009 organizational meetings.
“I haven’t really thought about the big picture at all yet,” U.S. slugger Crystal Bustos said after the loss. “Hopefully it’s not the last time-it just seems like it is.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
