At 330am yesterday morning I woke up anticipating a showdown between the US Softball team and Japan for Gold in the Beijing Olympics. Prior to the Gold Medal match up, the two teams met twice before, where the US came out on top. But in yesterday's game, my heart broke and I was left stunned. Japan had defeated the US 3-1 in the Gold Medal match.
It didn't seem possible. No one's supposed to beat this US team. They're unstoppable. They're 22-0 in the Olympics. Their battery is the best in the world 1-9. But yesterday Japan's ace pitcher
Yukiko Ueno proved to be the hero of the games. I don't know the exact statistics of how many pitches she threw in two days, or how many innings she pitched, but my hope was that she would tire and the US would capitalize on it. But as the innings went on, it seemed like
Ueno was still on top of her game. Cat
Osterman started the game, and unfortunately two of her rise balls were hit. One was a home run. When I saw it...I didn't panic. Because the US has been down before, and came back for the win. I was still confident. However something didn't sit right. I was sitting there watching the game, and something didn't seem quite right. I don't know what it was.
As the game went on I was hoping for the table setters of Natasha
Watley and Caitlin Lowe would slap and use their incredible speed to get on base. Then has a base hit for Jessica Mendoza and hey, how about a
Crystl Bustos home run. But it didn't happen that way. No matter how hard I wished for it.
Crystl Bustos was able to get a home run to cut Japan's lead 2-1. In the last inning with 2 outs and Japan up 3-1, I remember praying for a miracle hit, that one hit
that'll solidify an unsure win. Vicky
Galindo singled to get on first, then Caitlin Lowe stepped up. I envisioned another World Championship like win where Jessica Mendoza had a home run double and the US defeated Japan 3-0. I just remember hoping Caitlin Lowe would make it to first,
Galindo to second, with Mendoza on deck. It seemed plausible. But it just didn't happen. Lowe was out at first and Japan erupted in jubilation of having one of the biggest upsets in the Olympics.
I sat there in shock. I didn't cry for the US. I didn't cry at all. It felt unreal. Even right now, I still can't believe it happened. If anything was a sure thing in this Olympics, I felt it was Softball's fourth consecutive gold medal. But it just didn't happen that way. How I wish it did. Because Softball was voted out of the 2012 London Olympics, this was probably the last time seeing many of these players. I can say I'm just a "baby" still, following this team late. I followed them a little during the Athens Olympics. But this year I followed them through and through. This was a team I was thoroughly proud to support. After familiarizing myself with the players and the legacy this team has had, I didn't want anything more than for them to win the Gold. To leave it all on the field, and go out strong.
It just didn't seem right that this was the way it was all going to end. After all their hard work leading up to that very moment in four years, they left with a silver medal. A medal where some wouldn't mind having at all. But for this Gold Standard Team, is was like a disappointment. I sat there stunned wondering if I, as a fan, soaked in all I could of this sport and team. As it was the last time I was going to see
Crystl Bustos,
Tairia Flowers, Kelly
Kretschman,
Lovieanne Jung, and Laura Berg playing internationally as they retired and left their cleats on the field. But was it the last time I would see pitchers Jennie Finch, Cat
Osterman, and Monica Abbott? or the last time I was going to see Jessica Mendoza, Caitlin Lowe,
Natasha Watley, and everyone else on this team? It could have very well been. I think I did enough to have had enjoyed it to its fullest. Even if that meant waking up at 330am to watch a game that didn't have the outcome many thought it would.
Now a day later I still don't believe the articles I'm reading about the loss. I still don't believe the pictures. I still think it's all just a bad dream. Although I don't doubt Japan's passion or talent within this sport, I just felt no one deserved it more than the US. It almost doesn't seem fair. The US defeated Japan in the semifinals to get into the gold medal game. Why play them again in the gold medal match? It didn't seem right. The only positive I could take out of this was that maybe this US loss was exactly what this sport needed to prove that the rest of the world is catching up to the amazing powerhouse team that is the United States of America.
So Back Softball for 2016!
Switching gears and sports completely...
The US Women's Soccer team also had a gold medal match against Brazil. I have to say that that was the best soccer game I have ever seen. Maybe it was because it was the Olympics, or because this was the gold medal game, but in all honestly, I was left awestruck. The two teams went scoreless in the full 90 minutes of play which led them to go into two overtime 15 minutes halves. Wow, it was the LONGEST 15 minutes. US midfielder
Carli Llyod shot a rocket in the 6
th minute of extra time. It was Shannon
MacMillan like...and wow. I went nuts! US goalkeeper Hope Solo came up with some HUGE saves and it would be too hard for me to describe them to you. Just use your imagination. They
were really good. The US defense was on point, and as Hope Solo put it, the defense won the game. Brazil had many chances to tie the game, but came up just short. The US was able to hang on for 30 minutes for the Gold Medal. It was exciting, and definitely not the outcome many had predicted. It was almost like another "upset" but with the US coming out on top.
This is what I love most about the Olympics...great games, great players, and the outcomes could go any way.
