U.S. aces’ redemption tour has one final stop to make
Japan — Olympic oblivion never came after the heartache, the tears and the loss they feared might represent their final moment on this stage.
Thirteen years after Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott walked off that field in Beijing and into a foreboding future, their gold medal snatched by Japan, their sport on the verge of elimination from the Olympics, they have been granted a reprieve.
Unable to rewrite history, the U.S. softball star pitchers can add an epilogue. Their matchup against Japan in the final game of pool play on Monday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium represented a prelude to possible redemption.
Having gone unbeaten through the first four games of the opening round, the tournament’s favorites will meet again Tuesday in the gold-medal game. The only thing at stake Monday, other than maybe establishing a psychological edge, was determining the home team for the championship.
That designation will go to the U.S. after its bats finally carried some heft over the final two innings of a 2-1 victory. Kelsey Stewart’s walk-off home run leading off the seventh inning capped a rally in which the U.S. notched four late hits, including Valerie Arioto’s run-scoring single in the sixth, to wipe out a 1-0 deficit. It represented an onslaught for a team that had been held hitless over the first 51⁄3 innings.
Stewart’s teammates mobbed her at home plate, bodies leaping in unison as part of a joyous scrum. It was a celebration that was far from meaningless following a game that was largely insignificant.
“It’s one of those things you dream about when you’re a little kid, hitting a home run at the Olympics, and let alone a walk-off,” said Stewart, who has a history of dramatic hits against Japan after delivering a walk-off single in the gold-medal game of the 2018 Women’s Softball World Championship.
U.S. coach Ken Eriksen started former UCLA star Ally Carda instead of his
aces, saying it was a longscheduled move based on Carda’s past dominance against Japan in international competition. It had the bonus of preserving Osterman and Abbott for his team’s final push for the gold medal.
Abbott, 35, and Osterman, 38, are the only players with Olympic experience on a U.S. team that skews much younger but has leaned heavily on its veteran pitchers over the last week.
Abbott, who has made Japan her part-time home for more than a decade, can also give a unique scouting report. Abbott has starred for the Japan Softball League’s Toyota Red Terriers since 2009, becoming “Moniechan” to teammates and “Abboto” to fans who have embraced her dominance. There have been showdowns against Yukiko
Ueno, the homeland hero who downed the Americans in the championship of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is one of three Japanese players seeking a repeat, but nothing like the current stakes facing both teams.
Abbott described the chance to beat Japan after so many years and so much roster turnover as a moment to savor, even if it can’t erase what preceded it.
“I think 2008 memories and feelings linger for Cat and I as returning players,” Abbott said, “but more so, I think we just want to play on the field and we want to be present in every moment and leave without any regrets.”
Osterman retired from professional softball in 2015 only to return two years later after getting passed over for a coaching job. The snub didn’t bother her, sparking a realization that she still yearned to play. Just as important, she still could.
Eriksen dubbed his veteran duo “Fire and Ice,” a nod to Abbott’s blistering pitches and Osterman’s guile that allows her to dominate despite throwing much slower than her teamYOKOHAMA, mate.
“She throws 70s and I throw low 60s, and I throw down in the zone and she throws up in the zone,” Osterman said, “so we’re drastically different as far as pitchers.”
A 6-foot-3 left-hander, Osterman is the last remaining player from the U.S. team that won gold in 2004 in Athens.
The Americans seemingly could have taken on Greek gods after outscoring their opponents by a 51-1 margin. By that point, the U.S. had won gold in every Games since the sport’s debut in Atlanta in 1996.
It was widely speculated that U.S. dominance partially fueled the International Olympic Committee’s vote for an extended hiatus before Japan upset its rival in the sport’s sendoff in 2008. That no longer appears to be an issue.
Nearly every game in these Olympics has been taut.
Abbott said she considered Japan the favorite because the defending champions were returning their ace, top slugger and starting catcher from 2008, all while playing in familiar territory. The empty seats prompted by COVID-19 restrictions can’t erase Japan’s homefield advantage, regardless of whether it bats in the top or bottom of an inning.
Win or lose, Osterman and Abbott have acknowledged this is it. Emerging stars such as outfielder Haylie McCleney, whose .643 batting average in these Games leads all hitters, are the team’s future.
Softball will sit out the 2024 Paris Games, a victim of low popularity in the region, before an expected return in 2028 in Los Angeles. By then, Osterman and Abbott would likely transition into coaching roles.
First things first. Osterman, the losing pitcher in the final game against Japan in 2008, said she wanted her teammates to experience the joy she felt while winning gold four years earlier. Avenging defeat is not a primary motivator.
“If that’s what’s driving me every day,” Osterman said of revenge, “I’m here for selfish reasons. This group is the most important group, and I’m here so they can win
a gold medal.”