Softball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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Softball at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Pictogram used to identify softball at the 2008 Games
Venue	Fengtai Softball Field
Dates	August 12–21
Teams	8
Medalists
Japan    United States    Australia
«2004

Softball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place over a ten day period starting August 12 and culminating with the medal finals on August 21. All games were played at the Fengtai Softball Field. Olympic softball is competed by women only, with men competing in the similar sport of baseball.

The International Olympic Committee has voted to remove softball from the program for the 2012 Olympics. Many theories abound, but the most common one is that the U.S. teams are simply too dominant in the sport, having won gold in the previous three Olympics and winning them convincingly.^[1] 2008 is the last time that softball will be contested at the Olympics unless it is reinstated at a future date. The IOC will vote on this subject again in 2009.

Contents 1 Medalists 2 Participants 3 Competition format 4 Qualification 5 Qualification schedule 6 Group Stage 6.1 Preliminary round 7 Medal Round 7.1 Semifinals 7.2 Bronze Medal Match 7.3 Gold Medal Match 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Medalists

In one of the major upsets of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Japan defeated U.S. 3-1 to win the gold medal. The Americans have won gold and dominated their opponents in the previous three Olympics. This is the only Olympic Softball Gold Medal that the U.S. has not won. Their dominance was cited as one of reasons why the IOC voted to drop the sport from the 2012 Olympics.

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Japan (JPN) Naho Emoto Motoko Fujimoto Megu Hirose Emi Inui Sachiko Ito Ayumi Karino Satoko Mabuchi Yukiyo Mine Masumi Mishina Rei Nishiyama Hiroko Sakai Rie Sato Mika Someya Yukiko Ueno Eri Yamada	United States (USA) Monica Abbott Stacey Nuveman Crystl Bustos Jennie Finch Laura Berg Lauren Lappin Lovieanne Jung Cat Osterman Tairia Flowers Andrea Duran Jessica Mendoza Victoria Galindo Kelly Kretschman Caitlin Lowe Natasha Watley	Australia (AUS) Jodie Bowering Kylie Cronk Kelly Hardie Tanya Harding Sandy Lewis Simmone Morrow Tracey Mosley Stacey Porter Melanie Roche Justine Smethurst Danielle Stewart Natalie Titcume Natalie Ward Belinda Wright Kerry Wyborn

[edit] Participants

Australia  Canada  China  Chinese Taipei

Japan  Netherlands  United States  Venezuela

[edit] Competition format

Eight teams will compete in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consists of two rounds. The preliminary round follows a round robin format, where each of the teams plays all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advance to a page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

[edit] Qualification

The eight teams in the Olympic softball tournament will qualify through a series of tournaments. China, as the host nation, is guaranteed one automatic entry. The top four finishers at the 2006 Softball World Championships will be qualified for the Olympic tournament. Finally, there will be continental qualifying tournaments for Europe/Africa, Pan-America, and Asia/Oceania, with the winners of each tournament earning a spot in the Olympic tournament.

[edit] Qualification schedule

Date	Event	Location	Qualifier
	Host Nation		China
Aug 20-29, 2006	2006 ISF World Championship	Beijing	United States  Japan  Australia  Canada
June 9-16, 2007	Europe & Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Trieste	Netherlands
Feb. 1-5, 2007	Asian & Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Tainan City	Chinese Taipei1
Aug. 19-24, 2007	Pan-American Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Valencia	Venezuela

Note 1: Chinese Taipei is the official IOC designation for the state officially referred to as the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. (See also political status of Taiwan for details.)

[edit] Group Stage

[edit] Preliminary round

	Qualified for the semifinals
	Eliminated

The top four teams will advance to the semifinal round.

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Team	W	L	RS	RA	WIN%	GB	Tiebreaker
United States	7	0	53	1	1.000	-	-
Japan	6	1	23	13	.857	1	-
Australia	5	2	30	11	.714	2	-
Canada	3	4	17	23	.429	4	-
Chinese Taipei	2	5	10	23	.286	5	2-0 vs. CHN/VEN
China	2	5	19	21	.286	5	1-1 vs. TPE/VEN
Venezuela	2	5	15	35	.286	5	0-2 vs. CHN/TPE
Netherlands	1	6	8	48	.143	6	-

Tiebreaking procedures follow the International Softball Federation's standard procedure for the resolution of ties.^[2]

August 12

August 12 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2  Canada 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 11 0 WP: Lauren Bay(1-0)  LP: Chia-Yen Wu(0-1)   HRs:  TPE – Chia-Ching Ll(1) August 12 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 0 4 2 5 0 X X 11 11 0  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 2 WP: Jennie Finch(1-0)  LP: Johana Gomez(0-1)   HRs:  USA – Natasha Watley(1),Caitlin Lowe(1),Crystl Bustos(1)

August 12 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 5 1 4 10 13 1  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 5 3 WP: Huili Yu(1-0)  LP: Kristi de Varies(0-1)   HRs:  CHN – Lifang Zhang(1),Yi Zhou(1)  NED – Marloes Fellinger(1) August 12 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1  Japan 3 1 0 0 0 0 X 4 5 1 WP: Yukiko Ueno(1-0)  LP: Melanie Roche(0-1)   HRs:  AUS – Jodie Bowering(1),Natalie Titcume(1)  JPN – Satoko Mabuchi(1)

August 13

August 13 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 1 0 1 0 3 1 1 7 10 1  Venezuela 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 0 WP: Wei Lu(1-0)  LP: Mariangee Bogado(0-1)   HRs:  CHN – Yanhong Yu(1) August 13 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 0 0 0 0 1 2 X 3 5 0  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 WP: Cat Osterman(1-0)  LP: Tanya Harding(0-1)   HRs:  USA – Crystl Bustos(2)

August 13 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 9 1  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 1 WP: Hiroko Sakai(1-0)  LP: Sheng-Jung Lai(0-1)   HRs:  JPN – Satoko Mabuchi(2) August 13 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 3 4 1 1 X 9 11 1  Netherlands 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 2 3 1 WP: Danielle Lawrie(1-0)  LP: Kristi de Varies(0-2)   HRs:  CAN – Kayleigh Rafter(1),Melanie Matthews(1)  NED – Sandra Gouverneur(1)

August 14

August 14 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0  Australia 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 2 WP: Tanya Harding(1-1)  LP: Huili Yu(1-1)   HRs:  AUS – Simmone Morrow(1,2) August 14 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field (POSTPONED - August 15 - 14:45) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3  United States 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 8 6 1 WP: Cat Osterman(2-0)  LP: Dione Meier(0-1)

August 14 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1  Japan 2 0 0 0 1 0 X 3 8 0 WP: Hiroko Sakai(2-0)  LP: Judith van Kampen(0-1)  SV: Naho Emoto(1)   August 14 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 2 0 0 1 0 0 X 3 6 0  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 WP: Chia-Yen Wu(1-1)  LP: Johana Gomez(0-2)   HRs:  TPE – Hsueh-Mei Lu(1)

August 15

August 15 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 2 WP: Lauren Bay(2-0)  LP: Wei Lu(1-1)   HRs:  CAN – Jennifer Yee(1) August 15 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 4 0 0 3 0 X X 7 9 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1 WP: Monica Abbott(1-0)  LP: Naho Emoto(0-1)   HRs:  USA – Natasha Watley(2), Jessica Mendoza(1,2), Crystl Bustos(3)

August 15 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 5 0  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 WP: Kelly Hardie(1-0)  LP: Sheng-Jung Lai(0-2)   HRs:  AUS – Natalie Ward(1), Natalie Titcume(2) August 15 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 3 3 0 2 X X X 8 7 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 0 WP: Mariangee Bogado(1-1)  LP: Kristi de Varies(0-3)

August 16

August 16 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 0  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 WP: Yukiko Ueno(2-0)  LP: Wei Lu(1-2)  SV: Hiroko Sakai(1)   HRs:  JPN – Rie Sato(1) August 16 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 1 0 5 1 X X X 7 10 0  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 2 1 WP: Jennie Finch(2-0)  LP: Su-Hua Lin(0-1)   HRs:  USA – Jessica Mendoza(3)

August 16 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2  Australia 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 8 7 0 WP: Justine Smethurst(1-0)  LP: Kristi de Varies(0-4)   HRs:  AUS – Simmone Morrow(3), Sandy Lewis(1) August 16 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 WP: Mariangee Bogado(2-1)  LP: Danielle Lawrie(1-1)   HRs:  VEN – Yuruby Alicart(1)

August 17

August 17 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 1  China 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 WP: Ming-Hui Chueh(1-0)  LP: Huili Yu(1-2)   August 17 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 7 0  Japan 0 0 0 1 4 0 X 5 9 0 WP: Hiroko Sakai(3-0)  LP: Mariangee Bogado(2-2)   HRs:  JPN – Satoko Mabuchi(3), Eri Yamada (1)

August 17 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 4 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 WP: Tanya Harding(2-1)  LP: Lauren Bay(2-1)   August 17 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 1 2 3 2 X X X 8 13 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 1 WP: Monica Abbott(2-0)  LP: Rebecca Soumeru(0-1)   HRs:  USA – Tairia Flowers(1), Crystl Bustos(4), Jessica Mendoza(4)

August 18

August 18 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 2 2 0 0 0 X 4 6 3  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 1 WP: Rebecca Soumeru(1-1)  LP: Ming-Hui Chueh(1-1)  SV: Rebecca Soumeru(1)   August 18 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1  United States 9 0 0 0 X X X 9 9 0 WP: Cat Osterman(3-0)  LP: Wei Lu(1-3)   HRs:  USA – Kelly Kretschman(1)

August 18 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3  Japan 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 9 0 WP: Yukiko Ueno(3-0)  LP: Lauren Bay(2-2)  SV: Mika Someya(1)   August 18 – 19:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 2 X X 2 1 0  Australia 4 1 0 4 0 X X 9 8 0 WP: Justine Smethurst(2-0)  LP: Mariangee Bogado(2-3)   HRs:  AUS – Danielle Stewart(1)

[edit] Medal Round

Loser of 1&2 seed game will play the Winner of the 3&4 seed game in the Bronze Medal Match. The Loser of the Bronze Medal Match wins the Bronze Medal while the winner goes on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the Gold Medal in the Gold Medal Match.

	Semifinals					Bronze medal game					Gold medal game
	1	United States	4
	2	Japan	1								1	United States	1
						3	Australia	3			2	Japan	3
						2	Japan	4
	3	Australia	5
	4	Canada	3

[edit] Semifinals

August 20 – 9:30 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 6 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 WP: Monica Abbott(3-0)  LP: Yukiko Ueno(3-1)  SV: Cat Osterman   HRs:  USA – Crystl Bustos(5)

August 20 – 12:00 at Fengtai Softball Field Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 5 4 2  Canada 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 5 2 WP: Tanya Harding(3-1)  LP: Lauren Bay(2-3)   HRs:   – Sandy Lewis(1), Danielle Stewart(2)

[edit] Bronze Medal Match

Winner advances to gold medal match. Loser wins bronze medal.

August 20 – 17:00 at Fengtai Softball Field

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Australia	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	7	2
Japan	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	11	1

WP: Yukiko Ueno(4-1)  LP: Tanya Harding(3-2)  
HRs:  AUS – Kerry Wyborn,  JPN – Megu Hirose

[edit] Gold Medal Match

August 21 – 18:30 at Fengtai Softball Field

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Japan	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3	4	0
United States	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	2

WP: Yukiko Ueno(5-1)  LP: Cat Osterman(3-1)  
HRs:  JPN – Eri Yamada (2)  USA – Crystl Bustos (6)

[edit] References

1. ^ Even in defeat, U.S. proves point about softball's parity
2. ^ http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/rules_standards/technical_code.pdf

[edit] External links

• IOC Softball
• International Softball Federation
• ISF Olympic Softball

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