Yu Huili pitches in today's loss to Team USA, the final game for the host China. (Photo by Qiang FU)

FOUR TEAMS ADVANCE AS ROUND ROBIN PLAY ENDS
2008-08-18

BEIJING, CHINA -- It took until the final game of round robin play, but the four teams have been set for the playoff portion of the 2008 Olympic softball competition taking place here.

The final contest tonight saw Australia defeat Venezuela, 9-2, meaning the latter would not advance to the playoffs, and Canada would. The Aussies will join them along with Japan and the defending Olympic softball gold medalist USA. Tomorrow will be an off day before play resumes on Wednesday. In their fourth Olympic softball competition, this will be Canada's first time in the playoffs, while the streak of consecutive Olympic softball playoff appearances ends at three for China.

The Olympic News Service provided this recap of today's final four round robin games...

The Netherlands won their first softball game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the United States their seventh during the final day of round robin action at Fengtai Softball Field on Monday.

The four teams with the best won-lost records - USA (7-0), Japan (6-1), Australia (5-2), and Canada (3-4) - will contest the semifinals during the morning session on Wednesday, August 20.

The Netherlands won a 4-2 moral victory over Chinese Taipei.

The Netherlands' victory was their first in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Chen Miao-yi scored both of Chinese Taipei's runs.

Jolanda Kroesen drove in the winning runs by sending Kim Kluijskens and Marloes Fellinger home with a single in the third inning.

The Dutch victory was only the second for a Netherlands softball team in the Olympics. The squad that played in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games also finished with a record of one win and six defeats.

Chinese Taipei finished the preliminary round with two wins and five defeats.

The United States topped the host team China, 9-0.

The USA tied a record for most runs scored in a single inning (nine).

All the runs scored came in the first inning when 14 batters went to the plate. Kelly Kretschman had three runs batted in (RBI), thanks to her three-run home run.

The game was declared complete after five innings under the International Softball Federation's 'run ahead' rule.

China finished the preliminary round with two wins and five losses.

Canada couldn't get anything going in a 6-0 loss to Japan.

Rei Nishiyama and Motoko Fujimoto of Japan batted in two runs apiece. Nishiyama's RBI came in the second inning and were the deciding runs of the game.

Japan's winning pitcher Yukiko Ueno struck out two batters and limited Canada to just three hits while pitching six scoreless innings.

The victory locked up the second-ranked position in the preliminary round and guarantees Japan a medal.

Japan finished the preliminary round with a record of six wins and one loss while Canada won three games and lost four for the third time in Olympic competition.

Australia came up big to set down Venezuela 9-2.

Danielle Stewart hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning for the winners and teammates Natalie Ward and Tracey Mosley each batted in two runs.

Kelly Hardie was the winning pitcher. She allowed two runs on one hit and two walks. She also struck out three batters.

The game was declared complete after five innings under the provisions of the ISF's 'run ahead' rule.

Australia finished the preliminary round with five wins and two losses.

Venezuela finished the preliminary round with two wins and five losses.

Olympic Softball action resumes August 20 with playoffs at the Fengtai Sports Center softball field in Beijing.

RF = runs for, RA = runs against