Softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the Olympic Softball Stadium in the Helliniko Olympic Complex from August 14 to 23. The United States (USA) won the gold while Australia (AUS) took silver and Japan (JPN), the bronze.

It was one of the three sports at the Athens Olympics that was for women only along with Synchronized Swimming and Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Eight teams competed for the gold medal in only the third appearance of the sport at the Summer Olympics.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) Leah Amico Laura Berg Crystl Bustos Lisa Fernandez Jennie Finch Tairia Flowers Amanda Freed Lori Harrigan Lovieanne Jung Kelly Kretschman Jessica Mendoza Stacey Nuveman Cat Osterman Jenny Topping Natasha Watley	Australia (AUS) Sandra Allen Marissa Carpadios Fiona Crawford Amanda Doman Peta Edebone Tanya Harding Natalie Hodgskin Simmone Morrow Tracey Mosley Stacey Porter Melanie Roche Natalie Titcume Natalie Ward Brooke Wilkins Kerry Wyborn	Japan (JPN) Emi Inui Kazue Ito Yumi Iwabuchi Masumi Mishina Emi Naito Haruka Saito Hiroko Sakai Naoko Sakamoto Rie Sato Yuki Sato Juri Takayama Yukiko Ueno Reika Utsugi Eri Yamada Noriko Yamaji

In one of the most dominating runs in softball history, the United States team led by head coach Mike Candrea won the gold medal by defeating Australia 5-1 in the championship game on August 23. It was the first time in 9 games that an opponent scored a run against Team USA. Crystl Bustos hit two home runs to provide all the run-support that pitcher Lisa Fernandez required. Fernandez pitched all six innings, picking up her second win against Australia in as many days. She also won the semi-final game.

Throughout the tournament Team USA outscored its opponents 51-1. Team USA has won the Olympic gold medal in softball for the third straight time.

Australia's silver medal marks its best result in Olympic softball history. Japan earned the bronze medal after defeating China in the semi-final, and losing to Australia in the Bronze medal game.

Participants

Main article: Softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Team squads

Australia (AUS)
Canada (CAN)
China (CHN)
Greece (GRE)

Chinese Taipei (TPE)
Italy (ITA)
Japan (JPN)
United States (USA)

Results

Starting August 14, there were four preliminary games each day until August 20 for a total of 28 games. Two semi-final games were played August 22, with the game for third place following later that day. The final game for the gold medal was played on August 23 at 4pm local time.

Standings

Team	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	Pct
United States	7	7	0	41	0	1.000
Australia	7	6	1	22	14	0.857
Japan	7	4	3	17	8	0.571
China	7	3	4	15	20	0.429
Canada	7	3	4	6	14	0.429
Chinese Taipei	7	2	5	3	13	0.286
Greece	7	2	5	6	24	0.286
Italy	7	1	6	8	24	0.143

Preliminary round

August 14


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Australia	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	4	7	0
Japan	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
WP: Tanya Harding (1-0) LP: Yukiko Ueno (0-1) Home runs: AUS: N.Titcume in 4th, 1 RBI JPN: None


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Italy	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	3	2
United States	1	3	0	0	3	-	-	7	11	0
WP: Jennie Finch (1-0) LP: Leslie Malerich (0-1)


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Canada	0	0	0	2	0	0	X	2	5	0
WP: Lauren Bay (1-0) LP: Wu Chia-Yen (0-1)


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Greece	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6
China	0	1	1	0	3	0	X	5	5	1
WP: Lu Wei (1-0) LP: Sarah Farnworth (0-1)

August 15


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4
Japan	1	4	0	0	1	0	X	6	13	0
WP: Sakai Hiroko (1-0) LP: Lin Su-Hua (0-1) Home runs: TPE: N.Titcume in 4th, 1 RBI JPN: None


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Italy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	9	3
China	0	1	0	0	1	0	X	7	X	0
WP: Jennifer Spediacci (1-0) LP: Li Qi (0-1)


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Australia	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	1	0
United States	2	0	0	8	X	-	-	10	9	2
WP: Lisa Fernandez (1-0) LP: Brooke Wilkins (0-1) Home runs: AUS: Stacey Nuveman in 4th, 3 RBI USA: None


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Canada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4
Greece	0	1	0	0	1	0	X	2	3	0
WP: Sarah Farnworth (1-1) LP: Kaila Holtz (0-1)