Japan wins the softball game and took home the gold medal for the second time counter to the Americans. The accomplishment took place 13 years after the host country had conquered the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Japan’s players Yukiko Ueno, right, and Yu Yamamoto rejoice after winning a softball game against the United States at the Olympics in Yokohama, Japan, on July 27, 2021.
United States softball is defeated by Japan again in the gold medal game to take silver at Tokyo Olympics.
United States softball waited 13 years for a chance to retaliate against the forfeiture to Japan in the last Olympic softball gold medal game. But Japan had accomplished again in the sport’s reappearance to the Olympics for the first time since 2008 on its home soil, predominant 2-0 Tuesday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium.
United States pitcher Cart Osterman said,
“I’m honestly very proud of our team and everything we have dealt with in the last 2 ½ years. It’s been a lot. A lot of people don’t know what we had to deal with. We were without our whole staff from January to June. We’ve done a lot of things we’re proud of. The result is not what we wanted, but the journey was incredible, and we played some incredible softball here.”
Japan got on the board first in the fourth against Ally Carda, the second U.S. pitcher.
Yamato Fujita has ruled a leadoff single to center, progressive on a sacrifice, and ground out and scored when Mana Atsumi dove into first base to hardly beat a throw from Ali Aguilar.
In the fifth, Japan scored again with two outs. Yu Yamamoto singled to center. Monica Abbott replaced Carda and, after a wild pitch advancing Yamamoto, gave up an RBI single to right by Fujita for an important Japanese insurance run.
The Team United States utility Allyson Carda hands pitcher Monica Abbott the ball and talks during a pitching change against Japan during the fifth inning in the gold medal game of the Tokyo Olympics.
Ueno worked five-plus innings, exiting after a leadoff single in the sixth by Michelle Moultrie. She re-entered to pitch the seventh.
In the Japan second, Yuka Ichiguchi sent a shot to deep right field that Moultrie pulled down at the fence to stop a two-run homer. Moultrie formerly was in the lineup as a nominated player then shifted to the right when play began.
Osterman further said,
“The biggest thing is you’re not going to win every game. You’re not going to win every pitch. You’re not going to win every at-bat. You have to figure out how you’re going to bounce back with it or how you’re just going to move forward with it. It’s a heartbreak that we’re coming home not with the gold but at the same time you look at it, you have the silver medal. How many people would give for that?”
Members of the Japanese women’s softball team have distinguished their victory after their gold medal match with the United States.
The beating against Japan was the only one underwent by the United States team at the Tokyo Olympics Games, where softball, released from the permanent Olympics program more than a decade ago, was returning for the first time since 2008.
The game was the final Olympic attendance for Osterman and Abbott. The two veterans also lost to Ueno and Japan in the 2008 final.
The Japanese team beat the Americans 2-0 at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium in Tokyo Olympics.
It was distressing for the United States team, which demanded silver for the second time against its rival during the world sporting event and agonized over its first loss at the Tokyo Olympics.
Softball returned to the Tokyo Olympics program for the first time this year after it was dropped in 2008 and Japan wins the softball game.
Sources
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympics/japan-wins-softball-gold-defeats-u-s-olympics-rematch-n1275125
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/sports/olympics/softball-usa-japan.html
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2021/07/27/olympics/summer-olympics/softball-olym
