Perfect. That is what the U.S. softball team is as it awaits Monday’s gold-medal game against Australia.
Its record is a perfect 8-0. Its pitching staff’s ERA is a perfect 0.00. It has limited opponents to a perfectly minuscule 14 hits. And it has held opponents to a perfectly absurd batting average of .088.
A perfect example of how it goes about its business came in its 5-0 victory Sunday over Australia, which later defeated Japan to earn a rematch with the U.S. in the final.
Pitcher Lisa Fernandez, a 33-year-old veteran in her third Olympics, deftly mixed speeds while surrendering just three hits and a walk. The defense was flawless, and the offense, which went down in order through the first three innings, adjusted and produced runs in a variety of ways.
The first came in the fourth on an infield single, a failed sacrifice, a hit batsman and a double by Fernandez.
In the fifth, the U.S. gave a clinic on small ball. A walk from left fielder Jessica Mendoza. An infield single by shortstop Natasha Watley. A bleeder past second by first baseman Leah Amico to load the bases. Then a line single by third baseman Crystl Bustos, driving in Mendoza and Watley, and a sacrifice fly from catcher Stacey Nuveman, driving in Amico.
Fernandez added a home run in the sixth, but the real story of this group is how it absorbed a tragedy, stayed together, endured and now is one game from reaffirming itself as the unquestioned power of its sport.
“The world’s coming up to our level,” center fielder Laura Berg said Sunday, “but our goal is to dominate.”
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The U.S. did that while winning gold in 1996, the first Games with softball as a medal event. But in 2000 in Sydney, it lost three times on its way to another gold.
Those defeats provided the wakeup call and prompted a different approach to Athens. This group came together early, practiced long and hard, used unconventional methods like training with the Navy SEALs and took advantage of amenities such as a strength and conditioning coach and the best in digital equipment.
“Our commitment to the game elevated,” Fernandez said. “We realized how close our opponents were getting to us. We used to be able to get together for a couple training camps and peak. We weren’t going to win that way any longer.”
Its new way sparked the group on its pre-Olympic tour, which it ended undefeated. But in mid-July it was rocked when Sue Candera, the 49-year-old wife of coach Mike Candera, died of complications from a brain aneurysm. Eight days after her death, Candera decided to coach in Athens. Yet that memory was fresh when the Games opened.
“As much as emotions can fly, when the bell rings, they’re channeled, they kind of come to a halt,” Nuveman said Sunday. “This is a fresh start, and what we have to worry about is the tournament. Nothing else matters. All great athletes do that.”
This team has proved its greatness in perfectly outrageous fashion, having outscored its opponents 46-0. It has extended its winning streak, which stretches back to July 2003, to 78 games. But now, that does not matter.
“Coach said, `Your moment has arrived,'” Nuveman said. “We don’t take that lightly.
“Four years ago, Japan went into the gold-medal game and lost.
“So by no stretch of the imagination is this over.”