Olympic News: More on the USA Walk-Off 2-1 Win Over Japan to Finish Pool Play at 5-0
By
@BruntjensElla
July 26, 2021
Kelsey Stewart rounds the bases after her walk-off home run in the bottom of the 7th beat Japan 2-1. Photo – USA Softball.
Last night the USA came from behind to score a thrilling bottom of the 7th walk-off win over Japan to close out pool play with a bang.
We covered the story last night and give you two more perspectives on the contest which is a preview of the two teams that will play in the Gold medal game later today U.S. time.
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Team USA earns come-from-behind win over No. 2 Japan after Kelsey Stewart’s walk-off home run
Release issue by USA Softball
In a contest that pitted world-ranked No. 1 Team USA against No. 2 Japan, the rivalry did not disappoint as the Red, White and Blue came-from-behind to record a 2-1 walk-off victory in their final round robin game of the Tokyo Olympics.
Clinching their spot as the home team in tomorrow’s Gold Medal matchup, the U.S. overcame a one-run deficit and prevailed in the bottom of the seventh inning after a walk-off home run from Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kan.).
Team USA Head Coach Ken Eriksen
“I’m proud of the way we performed today,” said U.S. Olympic Softball Team Head Coach, Ken Eriksen. “I thought we hit the ball well, we just so happened to be hitting it right to the Japan defense. They made some great defensive plays on us as well; they move the ball quick which makes it difficult. Going forward into tomorrow’s game, we’re just going to have to continue putting the bat on the ball and start hitting it in the gaps.”
“To think that in March of 2020 there may have been the chance of the Olympics not happening and here we are in the Gold Medal Match versus a great program in Japan,” he added. “I don’t think you could ask for a better opportunity to play on the world stage.”
Japan scored their lone run of the game in the top of the first inning after taking advantage of two fielding miscues by the U.S. defense. A hard ground ball that was bobbled by Stewart at third base would put the leadoff batter on while a sac bunt quickly advanced her to second.
A bloop base hit to left field would put another runner on base for Japan before a passed ball got away from Aubree Munro (Brea, Calif.) to allow a run to score. Ally Carda (Elk Grove, Calif.), who got the start in the circle for Team USA, stepped up with a big two-out strikeout to allow the U.S. to escape the inning without anymore damage.
Both offenses were quiet through the second and third innings with Carda retiring four of the six batters she faced with a strikeout. Japan picked up their second base hit of the game in the top of the fourth, but Carda continued her dominance with two more strikeouts and a ground out to leave the runner stranded. Despite the U.S. putting a runner on with a hit-by-pitch to Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) in the bottom of the frame, the Japan defense once against shut down the at-bat with a double play to maintain their 1-0 lead.
A two-out single from Japan would give them their fourth baserunner of the game but another strikeout from Carda would send the U.S. back to the plate. Ali Aguilar (Orangevale, Calif.) drew a walk to put the leadoff runner on in the bottom of the fifth, but another double play by the Japan defense would quickly clear the bases before a ground out ended the inning.
Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) entered the circle in the top of the sixth, striking out the first two batters she faced before Carda returned for the remainder of the inning. The Japanese offense managed to bloop a two-out base hit to left field, but Carda remained solid under pressure with her ninth strikeout to end the at-bat.
Team USA leveled the score in the bottom of the sixth after back-to-back singles from Haylie McCleney (Morris, Ala.) and Janie Reed (Placentia, Calif.) put runners on for the U.S. With two outs and the tying run on third, Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) sent a ground ball through the left side of the field to plate McCleney and tie the game.
A walk to Aguilar then loaded the bases before a deep fly ball from Delaney Spaulding (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) looked to the add to the U.S. score but was caught just shy of the fence line to end the inning.
Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.) took over pitching duties in the top of the seventh, issuing a quick 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout and two groundouts to send the Eagles back to the plate for a chance to end the game before extra innings came into play.
All that was needed, though, was an at-bat from Stewart as she sent the second pitch she saw over the right field fence to seal the 2-1 walk-off victory for the Red, White and Blue.
The home run marked Team USA’s first long ball of the Tokyo Olympics while sealing their undefeated record through opening round.
The U.S. pitching staff of Carda, Osterman and Abbott totaled 12 strikeouts in the final round robin contest while limiting the Japan offense to four hits. Dominating through the entire opening round, today’s performance improved the overall strikeouts to 53 without an earned run being allowed by the U.S. pitchers.
At the plate, McCleney continued to spark the U.S. offense while Reed and Arioto picked up crucial base hits in addition to Stewart’s home run.
Team USA improves to 5-0 at the Tokyo Olympics and now looks ahead toward their fifth-consecutive Olympic Gold Medal game, which will take center stage tomorrow, July 27 at 8 p.m. JT / 7 a.m. ET following the Bronze Medal contest at 1 p.m. JT / 12 p.m. ET.
Tomorrow’s matchup between No. 1 Team USA and No. 2 Japan will mark the two countries third meeting for the Olympic Gold Medal after going head-to-head in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In 2000, it was the Red, White and Blue who finished atop the podium with a 2-1 (eight innings) win over Japan while the Japanese earned the Gold in 2008 – softball’s last Olympic appearance – after the U.S. suffered a 3-1 loss.
Kelsey Stewart has a knack for walk-off hits in Japan.
Stewart hit a game-ending home run leading off the seventh inning, and the United States rallied late to beat Japan 2-1 Monday and win the Olympic softball group stage — and with it the right to bat last in the gold medal game.
“It’s like you dream about when you’re a little kid, about hitting a home run at the Olympics, let alone a walk-off,” Stewart said.
In August 2018, Stewart’s single capped a three-run 10th inning off Japan ace Yukiko Ueno that gave the U.S. a 7-6 win at the Women’s Softball World Championship in Chiba, earning the Olympic berth.
She had been 1 for 12 with no RBIs at the Olympics before she drove the 98th pitch from Yamato Fujita (0-1) just over the glove of leaping right fielder Yuka Ichiguchi for the first U.S. home run of the tournament.
“She was starting to wear down because she had so many pitches on her arm,” Stewart said.
American players ran onto the field to celebrate their second straight walk-off win.
“I knew she was strong,” Fujita said through an interpreter, remembering Stewart from 2018. “I think the ball was too easy for her.”
Trying to bounce back from their 3-1 loss to Japan in the 2008 gold medal game, the Americans finished the group stage 5-0 while Japan dropped to 4-1.
Stewart’s first-inning error had led to Japan’s run. She bobbled Saku Yamazaki’s leadoff grounder to third, and following a sacrifice and Hitomii Kawabata’s single, Yamazaki scored on Aubree Munro’s passed ball.
Japan rested Yukiko Ueno, the 39-year-old who beat the U.S. in the 2008 gold medal game started by Cat Osterman, and Miu Goto. Fujita and catcher Yukiyo Mine lost track of the outs, starting to run off the field after Michelle Moultrie struck out for the second out of the third.
Fujita, a 30-year-old right-hander who had pitched just once before in the tournament, didn’t allow a hit until Haylie McCleney (an Olympic-best 9 for 14) singled to left leading off the sixth.
Janie Reed, whose husband, Jake, was claimed by Tampa Bay off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the day, reached on an infield hit with a bouncer to shortstop for just her second hit in 13 at-bats, and Valerie Arioto hit a two-out RBI single.
Ally Carda, a 28-year-old right-hander, allowed an unearned run and four hits over 5 1/3 innings in her Olympic mound debut, striking out nine and walking none.
Monica Abbott and Osterman had combined to throw all 29 innings in the first four games.
“Ally Carda has had tremendous success against them,” U.S. coach Ken Eriksen said of Japan. “Ally was scheduled for this game as soon as the Olympic team was named, because we knew the schedule. … If we had to win this game to get into the gold medal game, Ally Carda was still going to get the ball.”
Osterman, a 38-year-old lefty, faced two lefties in the sixth and struck out both.
Abbott (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh, adding to two complete game wins and two saves.
“It was a great opportunity for us to be able to experience all three pitchers today before the gold medal game tomorrow,” Japan coach Reika Utsugi said through an interpreter.
A 6-foot-3 lanky left-hander, Abbott is likely to start the gold medal game scheduled for Tuesday, a day before her 36th birthday. Rain is in the forecast.
“I wouldn’t doubt that you might see four pitchers tomorrow,” Eriksen said.
CANADA 8, ITALY 1
Danielle Lawrie and Lauren Regula, sisters of former Major League Baseball players, combined on a four-hitter in a game shortened to six innings under a rout rule.
Larissa Franklin drove in three runs for Canada (3-2), which headed to a bronze medal game against Australia or Mexico.
Lawrie, the 34-year-old sister of former major leaguer Brett Lawrie, allowed an unearned run and four hits in three innings. Regula (1-0), the 39-year-old sister of retired All-Star Jason Bay, struck out five in three hitless innings.
Jen Gilbert, who had been hitless in seven at-bats, had a go-ahead home run over the center-field cameras in the second. Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the 29-year-old Gilbert lives in Denton, Texas.
Franklin hit an RBI double in the third, and errors by shortstop Joey Lye and reliever Alexia Lacatena led to three unearned runs in the fifth, which included Franklin’s first sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Jenn Salling, who is 7 for 12.
Victoria Hayward hit a two-run double in the sixth and Franklin followed with another sacrifice fly.
Greta Cecchetti (0-4) allowed three runs — two earned — and five hits in four innings for Italy (0-5), which was outscored 21-1.
Erika Piancastelli caused an Italian team celebration when her second hit, an RBI single in the third, drove in the country’s first Olympic run.
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