Batter Up.. Hear that call... the time has come... for one and all..

August 21- It rained all morning and into the afternoon, and it was gold medal softball game day!! I hoped it wouldn't be cancelled or delayed, but it stopped while we were on our way to the field. I had made a sign that said "Goodbye Softball... and they're keeping PING PONG?!" and one to hold up when USA won that said "SWEEP."

When we got to the field just before 5, there weren't very many people there. Apparently the game was scheduled at 6:30, not at 5 like it said on our ticket. Our seats were in the outfield, but we went to the infield seats because that's what everyone does anyway. "China Chair Swap" is what we called it, because nobody sits in their actual seats and they just go where they want. Really there's no point in having a seat location on a ticket. We ended up in a section of Japanese fans with bangers. They announced the starting lineups and Cat Osterman took the mound for USA. She had a great first inning, and we came outright away with bases loaded, but couldn't score. Japan scored first in the 3rd inning and again in the 4th before there was a 25 minute rain delay! It was barely raining when they stopped play with one out to go in the 4th, and most everyone ran for cover. We stayed at our seats for fear of losing them, and huddled in our rain coats. In the bottom of the 4th after the delay, Crystl Bustos hit a homerun to cut Japan's lead in half!

Inning by inning we watched the opportunities to score dwindle- they had bases loaded again and again and couldn't score. In the 7th, Monica Abbott came on to pitch. USA had 2 errors in the inning and Japan scored another run. Vicky Galindo started off the bottom of the 7th with a base hit, but then team USA went down in order. USA LOST. I cried. It was such a bummer to see them lose the game- not having lost since 2000, and having won every gold since 1996 when softball first started in the Olympics. All the girls were so upset and in tears, so it was sad to see- I get sad when I see others cry.

After the game was the medal ceremony. I went down closer to the field so my sign could be seen, and seen it was! My picture was taken by CCTV (the news channel here) volunteers, Reuters, and was interviewed by a newspaper columnist in Philadelphia and one in Japan. What made the loss a little better to me, though, was that the girls saw my sign. They were on the side closest to me, and when they got on the podium to receive their medal and roses, Laura Berg turned to the crowd, saw my sign and smiled. She tapped Lauren Lappin and shower her, and she gave me a thumbs up. It went down the line that they saw my sign, and they all smiled, which was good to see. After the medal were awarded to Australia, Japan, and USA, the girls got together and wrote 2016 in softballs & all huddled together and chanted, "Back Softball" over and over again. I started tearing up again because it was just great for everyone on the field to come together and want the same thing. It's sad that it won't be in the Olympics in 2012, but hopefully it'll be back in 2016!

After the game and ceremony, we walked down to leave and all the players and families were down there. Berg came over and tapped my arm and told me she liked my sign. It was a good day despite the loss. I think the whole night I was saying, "I Can't believe they lost," though. I bet they can't believe it either.