Canada, Japan and U.S. score opening game wins
Japan, the United States and Canada let a lone run among them during victories in softball on Wednesday as the first event of the pandemic-postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics began without spectators against the backdrop of the lush hills of Fukushima.
“I feel relieved,” Japan pitcher Yukiko Ueno said after the day's first dominant start.
Winners said they overcame nervousness after a long wait to get here, while losers said they struggled to shake jitters fast enough.
Ueno, ace of Japan's 2008 gold medal run when softball was last in the Olympics, escaped loaded bases after walking one and hitting two in the first inning. She blamed her command issues on excitement from the “very long time” between Olympics.
Ueno went on to surrender two hits over 4-1/3 innings, and a trio of tworun homers powered an 8-1 mercy-rule win over Australia. Only buzzing cicadas and polite applause from a few hundred staff were heard as Japan's shots cleared the fence.
The United States defeated Italy 2-0, riding a nine-strikeout, single-hit performance from lefthander Cat Osterman, who returned from retirement for a chance at a second gold. Her six shutout innings left her with just two runs against in 39.4 innings across three Olympics.
Canada closed Wednesday's action by beating Olympics newcomer Mexico 4-0 after gaining four no-hit innings from Sara Groenewegen, who three years ago survived 10 days in a coma while battling Legionnaires' disease, a sometimes deadly form of pneumonia.
Canada is the only team out of five that have played in each of the four Olympics tournaments to have never won a medal.
All six teams face each other once over six days before the top four advance to the medal games. The first two days are at a baseball stadium in Fukushima, a region badly affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Softball was introduced at the 1996 Games, removed in 2012 and 2016, and reinstated for 2020/21. But it's a fleeting, one-and-done experience, given that the sport will not be in Paris for 2024. Canada placed fourth in Beijing in 2008.