Twelve years ago, the Japanese women’s softball national team achieved their biggest victory ever, with a 3-1 win over USA to win the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gold medal, the first in the country’s history. Yukiko Ueno had a monster playoff performance, pitching 28 innings in two days to lead her team to the top of the podium.
The Beijing 2008 softball competition, that represented the sport’s last appearance at the Olympics, had eight participating teams: Australia, Canada, China, Japan, the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Venezuela and USA.
It was the Olympic debut for Venezuela, that also marked another milestone in softball’s history: Venezuelan captain Maria Soto -- now a vice-chair of the WBSC Athletes Commission -- became the first and only softballer to bear her country’s flag at the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
The preliminary round was dominated by USA, winning all seven games to clinch first place. Japan was second (6-1), Australia third (5-2) and Canada fourth (3-4), all of them advanced to the playoffs. Chinese Taipei, China, Venezuela and the Netherlands completed the standings.
On 15 August, Monica Abbott pitched five perfect innings in the 8-0 win over the Netherlands, becoming the second hurler in history to pitch a perfect game (in her case, a five-inning perfecto). Ueno was the first to be perfect, in Athens 2004, retiring the 21 batters she faced.
USA and Japan opened the playoffs on 20 August, with a spot in the final at stake. And USA took a 9-inning marathon, 4-1, thanks to a three-run homer by slugger Crystl Bustos in the top of the ninth. Ueno pitched the complete game for Japan, surrendering six hits and four runs, and pitching eight strikeouts.
Later that day, Australia beat Canada 5-3, and advanced to the second semi-final against Japan. And Ueno started to write the most glorious pages in Japan’s softball history. After pitching nine innings in the morning, the right hander went into the circle again in the afternoon, and pitched another 12 innings in the 4-3 win over the Aussies to clinch the second spot in the final. Ueno allowed seven hits, two runs and two walks, and fanned seven.
The gold medal game was on 21 August, and after being in the circle 21 innings the day before, Ueno took the ball again for the final. And one more time she pitched a gem. In seven innings of work, she only allowed one run, a solo blast by Bustos in the bottom of the fourth episode, while striking out four. Japanese centre fielder Eri Yamada homered in the top of the fourth off Cat Osterman.
The win against USA in the gold medal game stopped a 22-game winning streak for the American team in the Olympics. Their last lost had been on 21 September, 2000 against Australia, in the preliminary round of the Sydney Games.
Ueno threw 413 pitches in two days, completing the three Japan games in the playoffs over 28 innings.
It was the first Olympic gold for Japan, who had grabbed a silver medal in Sydney and a bronze in Athens. USA’s silver was their first, after winning gold in the first three Olympic Games, while Australia got their fourth medal ever, and third bronze.
