US Olympic softball team on twin mission to win gold and save their sport

US Olympic softball team on twin mission to win gold and save their sport

Winning a fourth consecutive gold medal is only part of the mission in Beijing for the US Olympic softball team

The American women must also try to rescue their sport from Olympic extinction.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials voted in 2005 to drop softball and baseball from the Games after Beijing, although both sports are making a bid to have the IOC reconsider the decision.

"We've got two things in mind, win gold and get softball in people's minds," US outfielder Laura Berg said. "There are 128 countries that play the sport. It is important the IOC sees that."

The US women might be victims of their own domination, having won all three Olympic golds with a combined 25-4 record. They went 9-0 in 2004 at Athens, outscoring foes 51-1 and only allowing Australia a late run in the title game.

"We can prove softball should remain in the Olympics if we just go out and play to the best of our ability and win," US pitcher Cat Osterman said. "The biggest thing we can do is show them the best softball they have ever seen."

Some feel the IOC punished baseball for the fact Major League Baseball, hit with recent doping scandals, will not shut down its season to send stars to the Olympics with softball thrown out for being a women's version of the same game.

"It was about baseball," US standout Jessica Mendoza said. "To me that's disrespectful, that they would remove a sport without knowing about it.

"That's where I think the IOC needs to do us right. We don't take steroids. We're not turning down the Olympics to make millions of dollars.

"My challenge is to get the IOC to come and watch a game, look these girls in the eye and tell me this sport should be taken from the Olympics."

Whether IOC members ever bother to go and watch a game, softball has been ejected for London in 2012 and has an uphill fight for a place in 2016 at either Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid or Rio de Janeiro.

US blonde pin-up girl Jennie Finch, a fireball pitcher who has become a mother since starring in 2004, hopes the sport will be reinstated thanks to global growth.

"Interest in the game is at an all-time high," Finch said. "More for outside the US, it's important for dreams of girls in places like Croatia and Japan. We look at Beijing as a world-class stage to prove we belong."

Japan, third in Athens and second at the 2006 world championships and 2007 World Cup, could provide the biggest threat to the US with pitcher Yukiko Ueno, who hurled the first perfect game in Olympic history against China in 2004.

The Japanese also boast outfielder Eri Yamada, nicknamed the "Female Ichiro" for batting success similar to Japan's Ichiro Suzuki, a baseball star for the Seattle Mariners.

Australia with two Olympic bronzes and a silver, are led by Stacey Porter and veteran pitcher Tanya Harding while Canada could challenge behind pitcher Lauren Bay, whose older brother Jason plays for baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates.

China will seek a podium finish after coming fourth at two Olympics and three world tournaments. Venezuela and the Netherlands complete the field.