Women's softball dynasty comes to a sad close
BEIJING -- Everyone was saying the right things, not letting anyone inside any more than they could help it. It happens on any given night, no one has thought about the big picture, nothing to hang your head about.
The U.S. women’s softball team, one of the most dominant dynasties in sports, lost the Olympic gold medal game 3-1 to Japan Thursday. The U.S. had won the past three Olympic golds, all three ever awarded. But the sport has been removed from future Olympics for a reason we’ll never know.
(AP)
So this was always going to be a tough moment, even if it had ended with gold. The plan was for a goodbye with a nice sendoff. Instead, this was a much harder finality.
And nearly two hours after the game, away from the pack of reporters and consoling family members, Jennie Finch, the face of her sport, stood alone behind the chain-link fence that lined an area for team and family, and spilled it all. The feelings, the pressure of the night, the history lost.
"I think of the many women before me who have paved the way to get us here," she said. "And somehow, we’ve let someone or something down, not for it to continue to be there. We’ve let them down for not moving forward.
"At the same time, all those young ladies who dream of being an Olympic softball player, and now that dream is not there."
Her voice shook. And it became clear how much weight this team had been carrying. The U.S. team has always been the standard for the sport, and Finch for the team, as someone with so much attention for her pitching and good looks.
Finch, who plays for the Chicago Outlaws, sees herself as a leader in a sport that was trying to break into the mainstream to give young girls opportunities to play.
"You feel responsibility that you didn’t do enough," she said. "I do. I hold that responsibility. . `What more could we have done? What more can I do?’
"Lisa Fernandez, Dot Richardson. . .they’ve done so much. And what do we do with the torch?"
Honestly, I’ve never gotten worked up over softball. I figured the U.S. should always win because Title IX, equal opportunity legislation, meant that money was funneled into girls sports. But seeing the personal side, seeing Finch worry for others after the team had just lost gold, well, that was compelling.
Finch, who didn’t pitch Thursday, feels that she failed her sport? Perfection is an impossible standard.
This team had already won all the golds. It had won 22 straight Olympic games. In 2004, while the men’s basketball team was embarrassing itself, Sports Illustrated put the softball team on the cover, calling it the Real Dream Team.
This year, it went 59-1 on an exhibition tour, sharpening the team and spreading the word.
But now, Coach Mike Candrea said it was time for him to quit: "I’ve got a wife and two kids I haven’t spent a lot of time with."
What will the team do?
"The team will play the world championship, World Cup, Pan Am Games," he said. "So there will be softball."
It doesn’t feel that way.
The Olympics were the big moment, and now that’s gone.
"That’s the hardest thing about the entire thing," Finch said. " `Why?’ Please tell us why. We’ve been told basically you can’t change the past, (but) how do you move forward?
"Over 140 countries play this game. . .all different shapes and sizes, and it tests so many athletic ability. We’re finally making ground, moving ground. And we’ve finally been established. Please don’t take this away from the many softballers that are training at this moment."
Thursday’s game could never have changed those feelings. The U.S. and NCAA will continue to fund softball. But without the Olympics, other countries won’t be inclined to build up the sport. And that will only set the game back, as the sport’s governing bodies attempt to be reinstated by the 2016 Games.
And why was it dumped? That’s a hard one. One theory is that the U.S. was too good. The International Olympic Committee didn’t want to have a sport simply for the U.S. to dominate. Of course, the dominating team lost to Japan Thursday. But the IOC has a bad relationship with baseball, too, something to do with the Major Leagues not getting in line with strict international steroid testing. And maybe softball was just lumped in with baseball.
"We’ve fought it, we’ve fought it, we’ve fought it for so long," Finch said. "But I think we drove up (on the bus) just knowing this could be it. . .You can’t fight it anymore."
Those are some pretty heavy thoughts for a team going into a ballgame. The amazing thing about the gold medal game was Japan pitcher Yukiko Ueno, who had pitched 21 innings in two games on Wednesday. She was at it again Thursday, shutting down Team USA.
Cat Osterman, the DePaul assistant who threw a no-hitter earlier in the Games, gave up two runs, but that was all Japan needed.
On the podium, getting the silver medal, that’s where Finch lost it, breaking into tears. So many thoughts, including this: Was this the last time there would a podium for Olympic softball?
"We played this game with as much passion and love as we can," she said. "And desire. And coach says that’s basically all we could have done. But I feel that there was something else we missed."
Sometimes, perfect, or nearly perfect, isn’t enough.