Believe it or not, the US Softball team did lose today. 3 to 1 against the Japanese team. Japan handed the United States their first loss since September 21, 2000 in Sydney. The United States was looking to win their 4th straight gold medal on Thursday, but will have to settle for silver this year in the last Olympics softball game for at least eight years.
Yukiko Ueno, Japan’s resilient right-handed pitcher, pitched seven innings of softball allowing just one run on five hits. Cat Osterman for the US pitched five innings allowing two runs on three hits. Monica Abbott pitched two more innings for the US allowing one more run on two hits. The US had won 22 straight games in the Olympics, most of them with outrageously lopsided scores, before falling to Japan in the final softball game of the 2008 Olympic games.
After the game, slugger Crystl Bustos said, “It hurts a lot. You train your whole life and you want to win. You don’t expect to lose.”
