Jennie Finch and other players shamelessly received a sack letter from Patty Gasso, their head coach, which left tears draining out of their eyes like water due to their bad behavior.
The attractive person on every magazine cover—the face of an entire sport—was a wreck. With a silver softball medal around her neck, Jennie Finch stood on the medal stand. She was crying, wiped away, and surprised. The United States has won all three Olympic softball golds before today. In the Olympics, the United States dominated softball, winning 22 straight matches. Softball may be permanently eliminated in addition to its current state of defeat, as the International Olympic Committee removed it from the 2012 Olympic program three years ago.
What thought was racing through her head? “So many things,” Finch says as she leans against the fence outside the Fengtai Softball Stadium, her teammates and relatives offering words of support to one another in the background. Several of her friends had previously mentioned having no regrets and giving everything they had—a litany of depressing platitudes. However, the most well-known softball player in history was prepared to discuss the real suffering two hours after the game.
She remarks, “You know, I feel like we let USA softball down.” Numerous women have donned this attire and only received gold. There are so many ideas. What more was there for me to do? And after that, is this the final time softball players will ever stand on the Olympic podium? The unknowable future of our sport, all those young ladies spectating, and everyone who has helped and encouraged me. I’ve not seen my son in a month and a half, and there are so many things I can’t wait to see in his small face when I return home.
It’s just plain cruel that softball, the Teflon team slated for one final crown, didn’t make it on a historic day for American women’s sports at the Olympics. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won gold in beach volleyball to maintain their absurd 108-game winning streak, capping a wet and windy morning. Later, in the gold medal game—a thrilling 1-0 overtime thriller—the United States women’s soccer team, missing star player Abby Wambach, stunned Brazil.
At the World Cup last year, Brazil soundly defeated the United States 4-0. Following the match, American goaltender Hope Solo, who had been benched, slung shade at their coach. They are now the Olympic champions, led by new coach Pia Sundhage. And Solo, who divided opinion a year ago, is now a household name after dominating Brazil. After the game, Solo clarified, “Everything I said last year, I said everything under emotions.” “I just won a damn gold medal; I feel great.”
Additionally, a number of American women’s teams—the basketball and volleyball squads having qualified for the gold medal games—will compete for one. Even in table tennis, the US created history. In a singles event, Chen Wang became the first American, male or female, to ever reach the quarterfinals. Indeed, the water polo team took home the silver after losing to the Netherlands.
The real surprise, though, is softball; the U.S. was so dominant that the sport was removed from the Olympics. According to U.S. coach Mike Candrea, “I really kind of feel that maybe people [will] get off our backs and realize that there is some parity in this game.” Maybe your team should have lost a huge one sooner, coach, but it’s too late for that.
It was evident that the US hadn’t participated in many close games. The Yanks defeated their opponents 57-2 prior to the championship game. The margin was 51-1 during the Athens gold medal run. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning against Japan, the United States had runners on second and third. The assault is about to begin, right? But the rally was ruined by two consecutive infield pop-ups. Hitting clutches? What is that?
Now that’s all there is to softball. The 2012 Games will not feature the sport. Despite the lack of assurances, supporters are working to return in 2016, yet the animosity toward bat and balls endures. It works particularly well against baseball.
More than American supremacy or lack thereof in many other countries, according to Dick Pound, a former head of the World Anti-Doping organization and member of the IOC, baseball’s steroid crisis was the primary catalyst for softball’s excommunication. After Beijing, baseball will end as well.
Pound says, “I think we missed a big opportunity to support women’s sport.” “Unlike baseball, we were getting the best athletes in the sport.” Unlike baseball, we’re getting athletes who are part of an excellent anti-doping program. Additionally, we’re working to balance the number of men and women on the program. Therefore, I believe that softball was regrettably included in the shotgun attack against baseball.
Shortly after Pound’s remarks from the bleachers, American Crystl Bustos launched her sixth tournament home run into the right field bleachers. The Thunder-Stix clapped and the packed crowd roared. Is the audience for contemporary pentathlon this animated?
Finch’s head was clouded even before the game. She remarks, “We’ve fought it, we’ve fought it, we’ve fought it for so long,” regarding softball’s unavoidable demise at the Olympics. “However, knowing that this might be it, you can’t resist it anymore on the drive-up.” She was never allowed to compete for the gold. With seven southpaws in the starting lineup versus Japan, Candrea started lefty Cat Osterman. Did Finch feel let down? Finch responds, “I would be lying if I said no,” but she soon clarifies that she believes Candrea is right. She won’t turn on us alone. “I believe that, as pitchers, we all want the ball in our hands.”
The loss still hurts, even though she didn’t throw. Finch also feels bad about the decline of softball in the United States. Really? Who on Earth has spent more time promoting her sport than Finch? Does she keep part of the mess to herself? She answers, “I do.” “I am accountable for that. What else can I accomplish as an Olympic softball player? After all that the greats like Lisa Fernandez and Dot Richardson have accomplished, it is now our turn. What action did we take with the torch? You do, therefore, feel let down. The International Olympic Committee is not the source of concern for those numerous girls. They turn to us.
