U.S. softball team defies critics, almost loses

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BEIJING -- Softball is out of the Olympics after this year for one main reason -- the U.S. softball team is too good for the competition.

The U.S. softball players, of course, have been arguing that that’s not true.

They almost proved their point Wednesday, needing extra innings to beat Japan, 4-1, in the semifinals.

The two teams were tied after seven, forcing them into an international tiebreaker. Both teams were allowed to begin their halves of the extra innings with a runner at second.

The United States quickly capitalized in the ninth with a three-run home run by Crystl Bustos of Canyon Country.

This is the fourth Games in which softball has been in the Olympics. The United States will be going for its fourth gold medal. The Americans have lost games before, three of them, in fact, in Sydney in 2000. But they haven’t lost since.

-- Randy Harvey