The United States has barely broken a sweat in Olympic competition since softball became a medal sport in 1996. And in 2004, Team USA won by a combined 51-1, giving up its lone run in the sixth inning of the gold-medal game against Australia.
The American players don't believe it will be quite as easy this time.
"It's not going to be Athens," said catcher Stacey Nuveman, a two-time gold medalist, to NBC Sports. "We may get a couple of big games where we score seven or eight runs. I just don't see that being the norm. We've had closer games since '04. The rest of the world has gotten better."
That said, my prediction:
- GOLD: United States
- SILVER: Japan
- BRONZE: Canada
