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While much of America’s attention is riveted on the Women’s College World Series—and rightfully so—there’s a lot going on around the world as we are less than two months away from the start of the Tokyo Olympics.
Here are some of the latest significant news items as it relates to the upcoming international sports event now less than 50 days away (and softball kicks it off!)…
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Australian softball squad 1st team to arrive in Japan for Olympics
Originally published June 1, 2021 in Kyodo News
Members of the Australian women’s softball team on Tuesday became the first group of athletes to arrive in Japan for a pre-Olympic training camp since the Tokyo Games were postponed more than a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The squad’s arrival at a hotel in Ota, around 80 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, came about 50 days before the opening of the Olympics and with the Japanese public, concerned about a surge in COVID-19 infections, largely opposed to holding such a global sporting event this summer.
The 20 “Aussie Spirit” players and nine staff, who came via Singapore, will hold training sessions in the city in Gunma Prefecture from Saturday through July 17. The team members, wearing their uniforms featuring Australia’s national sporting colors of green and gold, as well as face masks, waved to the press upon arrival.
All members of the delegation, who had received COVID-19 vaccinations, tested negative for the virus at Narita airport, according to Japanese health authorities, before heading to Ota by chartered bus.
The members will be under tight restrictions while in Japan, where infections have been declining at a slow pace partly because the vaccination rate has lagged far behind other developed countries.
The Australian team will move into the Olympic village before playing its opening Olympic match against Japan at Fukushima Azuma stadium on July 21, two days before the official beginning of the Tokyo Olympics.
Head coach Robert Harrow said that his team will be “respectful” of Japanese citizens and “fall in line with the rules applied to us during our stay to keep everyone safe.”
“We will be focused purely on our training during our time in Japan,” Harrow said in a statement released by the city government. “We are lucky enough to be the first team to open Olympic competition against Japan which is very exciting and a huge honor.”
Members of the national team will also be required to undergo daily virus testing and be prevented from interacting with the general public, with all sleeping, dining and meeting rooms confined to three floors in their hotel.
The players and staff will only be allowed to leave the hotel to travel to and from their training facilities. The team will train for over a month, during which it will play practice matches against clubs from the Japan Softball League and universities.
Australia was among the teams competing at the 1996 Atlanta Games when softball made its debut and it has gone on to win one silver and three bronze medals.
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Team USA edges USSSA Pride 3-2 with walk-off home run by McCleney
Information provided by USA Softball
While Australia’s national team was settling in to its new digs in Japan, the United States team got in a great scrimmage against many of the top pro players in the sport.
The “Stand Beside Her” tour, presented by Major League Baseball (MLB), returned to action last night (Wednesday, June 2, 2021) in Stillwater, Okla. as the USA Softball Women’s National Team (WNT) edged the USSSA Pride 3-2 in game one of the four-game series.
Both offenses were relatively quiet throughout the contest with the score remaining tied through the last four innings of play, but a walk-off home run from Haylie McCleney (Morris, Ala.) would break the silence and secure the victory for the Red, White and Blue.
Team USA’s pitching staff took care of business in the circle with a combined total of 14 strikeouts, with Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.) fanning six Pride batters followed by Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) who struck out five in two innings.
Ally Carda (Elk Grove, Calif.), who got the start in the circle for Team USA, kept the Pride off the board through two innings of play, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out two batters – the last of which came at a crucial moment with bases loaded in the top of the second.
Solid defense and clutch hitting earned the U.S. Women's National Team 🇺🇸 a 3-2 victory over the USSSA Pride in game one of the four-game series.
RECAP » https://t.co/KVRNBvNm5g pic.twitter.com/T4k68MI2WY
— USA Softball Women's National Team 🇺🇸 (@USASoftballWNT) June 3, 2021
Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) got things started for the U.S. offense by taking a pitch to the elbow in the bottom of the second inning. She then moved into scoring position after a base hit from Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kan.), which set the stage for some situational hitting from Aubree Munro (Brea, Calif.) who laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Moultrie to third, and Janie Reed (Placentia, Calif.) who followed suit with a sac-fly to left field to put the U.S. on top, 1-0.
Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif.) took over pitching duties for the Red, White and Blue in the top of the third inning, allowing a home run and a single before firing back with a strikeout. Another single by the Pride would send a runner home and put them on top, 2-1 before another pitching change for Team USA would bring Abbott into the circle. The lefty heat-thrower ended the threat with a strikeout and ground out to send the U.S. back to the plate, trailing the Pride, 2-1.
Team USA didn’t stay down for long, though as Ali Aguilar (Orangevale, Calif.) led off the bottom of the third with a hard line drive to right field followed by a walk to Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif) to put runners in scoring position for the U.S.
Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) produced with a solid ground ball up the middle to plate Aguilar and tie the game, 2-2. Despite loading the bases with a walk by Stewart later in the inning, the U.S. was unable to muster anymore runs.
Abbott continued dealing in the next two innings, striking out five Pride batters and allowing zero baserunners. Osterman entered the circle in the top of the sixth, following suit with Abbott’s performance by striking out the first three batters she faced.
Despite a solid showing on defense, Team USA’s bats stayed quiet, keeping the score tied at two going into the seventh.
The Pride found some hope early in the inning, getting two baserunners off two walks by Osterman. A groundout would advance the runners to second and third, before another walk would load the bases for the Pride. Osterman zoned in with bases loaded and one out, retiring the next two batters she faced with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Pride at bay.
A pitching change for the Pride in the bottom of the seventh would look to switch things up for Team USA’s 1-2-3 batters who were set to lead off the inning, but all it took was four pitches for McCleney to take care of business as she homered over the left field fence to secure the 3-2 walk-off victory for Team USA.
Team USA returns to the field for game two against the Pride on Friday, June 4. Held at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, Team USA will square off against the Pride at 11 a.m. CT before the 2021 NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS) begins its evening session. The WNT will round out the four-game series against the Pride back at Cowgirl Stadium on June 6–7 with a 5 p.m. CT matchup on Sunday, June 6 and a 12 p.m. contest on Monday, June 7.
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10,000 volunteers drop out; Tokyo Olympics open in 50 days
Report published on June 3, 2021 by Stephen Wade and Kantaro Komiya of Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) – The countdown clock for the Tokyo Olympics hit 50-days-to-go on Thursday, and the day also brought another problem for the delayed games.
About 10,000 of 80,000 unpaid volunteers for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have told organizers they will not participate when the games open on July 23.
Organizers said some dropped out because of worries about COVID-19. Few volunteers are expected to be vaccinated since most will have no contact with athletes or other key personnel.
Only about 2-3% of Japan’s general population has been fully vaccinated in a very slow rollout that is just now speeding up. Conversely, the IOC expects at least 80% of athletes and residents of the Olympic Village to be fully vaccinated.
“We have not confirmed the individual reasons,” organizers said in a statement. “In addition to concerns about the coronavirus infection, some dropped out because they found it would be difficult to actually work after checking their work shift, or due to changes in their own environment.”
Organizers said the loss would not affect the operations of the postponed Olympics.
Unpaid volunteers are a key workforce in running the Olympics and save organizers millions of dollars in salaries. Volunteers typically get a uniform, meals on the days they work, and have daily commuting costs covered. They pay their own lodging.
A study done for the International Olympic Committee on volunteers at the 2000 Sydney Olympics said their value was at least $60 million for 40,000 volunteers.
To mark 50 days, organizers unveiled the podiums, costumes and music that will be used during the medal ceremonies. Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto again promised the Olympics will be safe for the athletes.
“The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee will absolutely make sure to protect the health of the athletes,” she said.
Support for the Olympics continues to lag in Japan with 50-80% — depending how the question is phrased — saying the games should not open on July 23.
Tokyo is officially spending $15.4 billion to organize the Olympics, and several government audits say it’s much more. All but $6.7 billion is public money. The IOC’s contribution is about $1.5 billion.
Japan has attributed just over 13,000 deaths to COVID-19, far lower than most comparable countries, but higher than many Asian neighbors.
On Thursday, the Japanese soccer association said a member of the Ghana team had tested positive upon arrival in Tokyo. The player was separated from the team and placed in quarantine.
Earlier in the week, soccer players from Jamaica were unable to go to Japan because of issues with coronavirus testing. They were to have played the Japanese national team in a friendly.