Softball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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Softball at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Pictogram used to identify softball at the 2008 Games
Venue	Fengtai Softball Field
Dates	August 12–21, 2008
Teams	8
Medalists
Japan  United States  Australia
← 2004 2020 →

Softball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place over a ten-day period starting August 12 and culminating in the medal finals on August 21. All games were played at the Fengtai Softball Field. Olympic softball is a women only competition, with men competing in the similar sport of baseball.

This is the last time Softball was contested as a core sport at the Olympics, as the International Olympic Committee voted to remove baseball from the program in the 2012 Olympics.^[1] Along with baseball, softball was rejected for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Olympics at the IOC's meeting in October 2009.^[2] However, Softball was contested at the 2020 Games and will be included in the at the 2028 games as an additional sport.^[3][4]

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Japan (JPN) Naho Emoto Motoko Fujimoto Megu Hirose Emi Inui Sachiko Ito Ayumi Karino Satoko Mabuchi Yukiyo Mine Masumi Mishina Rei Nishiyama Hiroko Sakai Rie Sato Mika Someya Yukiko Ueno Eri Yamada	United States (USA) Victoria Galindo Kelly Kretschman Caitlin Lowe Natasha Watley	Australia (AUS) Jodie Bowering Kylie Cronk Kelly Hardie Tanya Harding Sandy Lewis Simmone Morrow Tracey Mosley Stacey Porter Melanie Roche Justine Smethurst Danielle Stewart Natalie Titcume Natalie Ward Belinda Wright Kerry Wyborn

Participants

Competition format

Eight teams compete in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consists of two rounds. The preliminary round follows a

round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

Qualification

The eight teams in the Olympic softball tournament will qualify through a series of tournaments. China, as the host nation, is guaranteed one automatic entry. The top four finalists at the

2006 Softball World Championships

will be qualified for the Olympic tournament. Finally, there will be continental qualifying tournaments for Europe/Africa, Pan-America, and Asia/Oceania, with the winners of each tournament earning a spot in the Olympic tournament.

Qualification schedule

Date	Event	Location	Qualifier
	Host Nation		China
Aug. 20–29, 2006	2006 ISF World Championship	Beijing	United States  Japan  Australia  Canada
June 9–16, 2007	Europe & Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Trieste	Netherlands
Feb. 1–5, 2007	Asian & Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Tainan City	Chinese Taipei1
Aug. 19–24, 2007	Pan-American Olympic Qualifying Tournament	Valencia	Venezuela

for details.)

Group stage

Preliminary round

	Qualified for the semifinals
	Eliminated

The top four teams will advance to the semifinal round.

All times are

UTC+8

)

Team	W	L	RS	RA	WIN%	GB	Tiebreaker
United States	7	0	53	1	1.000	-	-
Japan	6	1	23	13	.857	1	-
Australia	5	2	30	11	.714	2	-
Canada	3	4	17	23	.429	4	-
Chinese Taipei	2	5	10	23	.286	5	2-0 vs. CHN/VEN
China	2	5	19	21	.286	5	1-1 vs. TPE/VEN
Venezuela	2	5	15	35	.286	5	0-2 vs. CHN/TPE
Netherlands	1	6	8	48	.143	6	-

Tiebreaking procedures follow the International Softball Federation's standard procedure for the resolution of ties.[5]

August 12

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2  Canada 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 11 0 Chia-Ching Ll (1) CAN: None Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 0 4 2 5 0 X X 11 11 0  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 2 WP: Jennie Finch(1-0)   LP: Johana Gómez(0-1) Home runs: USA: Natasha Watley(1), Caitlin Lowe(1), Crystl Bustos(1) VEN: None

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 5 1 4 10 13 1  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 5 3 Lifang Zhang(1), Zhou Yi(1) NED: Marloes Fellinger (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1  Japan 3 1 0 0 0 0 X 4 5 1 WP: Yukiko Ueno(1-0)   LP: Melanie Roche(0-1) Home runs: AUS: Jodie Bowering(1), Natalie Titcume(1) JPN: Satoko Mabuchi(1)

August 13

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 1 0 1 0 3 1 1 7 10 1  Venezuela 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 0 Yanhong Yu (1) VEN: None Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 0 0 0 0 1 2 X 3 5 0  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 WP: Cat Osterman(1-0)   LP: Tanya Harding(0-1) Home runs: USA: Crystl Bustos(2) AUS: None

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 9 1  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 1 Sheng-Jung Lai(0-1) Home runs: JPN: Satoko Mabuchi (2) TPE: None Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 3 4 1 1 X 9 11 1  Netherlands 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 2 3 1 Kristi de Varies(0-2) Home runs: CAN: Kaleigh Rafter(1), Melanie Matthews(1) NED: Sandra Gouverneur (1)

August 14

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0  Australia 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 2 Huili Yu(1-1) Home runs: CHN: None AUS: Simmone Morrow (1,2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3  United States 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 8 6 1 WP: Cat Osterman(2-0)   LP: Dione Meier(0-1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1  Japan 2 0 0 0 1 0 X 3 8 0 WP: Hiroko Sakai(2-0)   LP: Judith van Kampen(0-1)   Sv: Naho Emoto(1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 2 0 0 1 0 0 X 3 6 0  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 Hsueh-Mei Lu (1) VEN: None

August 15

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 2 Wei Lu(1-1) Home runs: CHN: None CAN: Jennifer Yee (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 4 0 0 3 0 X X 7 9 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1 WP: Monica Abbott(1-0)   LP: Naho Emoto(0-1) Home runs: USA: Natasha Watley(2), Jessica Mendoza(1,2), Crystl Bustos(3) JPN: None

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 5 0  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 Sheng-Jung Lai(0-2) Home runs: AUS: Natalie Ward(1), Natalie Titcume (2) TPE: None Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 3 3 0 2 X X X 8 7 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 0 Kristi de Varies (0-3)

August 16

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 0  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 Wei Lu(1-2)   Sv: Hiroko Sakai(1) Home runs: JPN: Rie Sato (1) CHN: None Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 1 0 5 1 X X X 7 10 0  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 2 1 Su-Hua Lin(0-1) Home runs: USA: Jessica Mendoza (3) TPE: None

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2  Australia 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 8 7 0 Kristi de Varies(0-4) Home runs: NED: None AUS: Simmone Morrow(3), Sandy Lewis (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 WP: Mariangee Bogado(2-1)   LP: Danielle Lawrie(1-1) Home runs: VEN: Yuruby Alicart(1) CAN: None

August 17

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 1  China 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 Huili Yu (1-2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 7 0  Japan 0 0 0 1 4 0 X 5 9 0 WP: Hiroko Sakai(3-0)   LP: Mariangee Bogado(2-2) Home runs: VEN: None JPN: Satoko Mabuchi(3), Eri Yamada (1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 4 0  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Lauren Bay (2-1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 1 2 3 2 X X X 8 13 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 0 1 WP: Monica Abbott(2-0)   LP: Rebecca Soumeru(0-1) Home runs: USA: Tairia Flowers(1), Crystl Bustos(4), Jessica Mendoza(4) NED: None

August 18

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 2 2 0 0 0 X 4 6 3  Chinese Taipei 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 1 Ming-Hui Chueh(1-1)   Sv: Rebecca Soumeru (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 X X 0 1 1  United States 9 0 0 0 X X X 9 9 0 Wei Lu(1-3) Home runs: CHN: None USA: Kelly Kretschman (1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3  Japan 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 9 0 Lauren Bay(2-2)   Sv: Mika Someya (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Venezuela 0 0 0 0 2 X X 2 1 0  Australia 4 1 0 4 0 X X 9 8 0 WP: Justine Smethurst(2-0)   LP: Mariangee Bogado(2-3) Home runs: VEN: None AUS: Danielle Stewart(1)

Medal round

The loser of 1&2 seed game will play the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match wins the bronze medal while the winner goes on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.

	Semifinals					Bronze medal game					Gold medal game
	1	United States	4								1	United States	1
	2	Japan	1								2	Japan	3
						3	Australia	3
						2	Japan	4
	3	Australia	5
	4	Canada	3

Semi finals

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 6 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 WP: Monica Abbott(3-0)   LP: Yukiko Ueno(3-1)   Sv: Cat Osterman Home runs: USA: Crystl Bustos(5) JPN: None

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 5 4 2  Canada 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 5 2 Lauren Bay(2-3) Home runs: AUS: Sandy Lewis(1), Danielle Stewart (2) CAN: None

Bronze medal match

Winner advances to gold medal match. Loser wins bronze medal.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Australia	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	7	2
Japan	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	11	1
WP: Yukiko Ueno(4-1)   LP: Tanya Harding(3-2) Home runs: AUS: Kerry Wyborn, JPN: Megu Hirose

Gold medal match

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Japan	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3	4	0
United States	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	2
WP: Yukiko Ueno(5-1)   LP: Cat Osterman(3-1) Home runs: JPN: Eri Yamada (2) USA: Crystl Bustos (6)

References