The United States Olympic softball team is playing for its fourth consecutive gold medal when it takes the field in Beijing. “I am very excited about this team and its ability to continue the excellence that USA Softball has come to expect at the Olympic Games,” head coach Mike Candrea said in a news release. “This team is built around a core of veteran players that bring a tremendous amount of international and Olympic Games experience. With the addition of some very good young talent, this team will be well balanced between speed, power, pitching and defense.” Some of the key players:
Jennie Finch
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Finch, 27, is in her seventh year on the national team. The 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher is going for her second gold medal. Finch made two appearances at the 2004 Olympics, working eight innings with 13 strikeouts. In college at Arizona, she set an NCAA record for consecutive wins with 60. In 2007, touring with the national team, she pitched in eight games and went 5-0 record with a 0.23 ERA. Finch is married to minor-league pitcher Casey Daigle and has a son, Ace (2).
Jessica Mendoza
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Mendoza, 27, has been an offensive star for the national team since 2001 and is playing in her second Olympics. An outfielder, whe hit the game-winning home run in the gold-medal game of the World Championships in 2006, when she was named the USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year. In 2007, Mendoza hit .417 (25-for-60) during three tournaments for the touring Team USA squad. The Stanford graduate also served as the color commentator for ESPN's broadcast of the 2007 and 2008 Women's College World Series.
Cat Osterman
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Emerging as the team's top pitcher in international competition, the 6-foot-2 left-hander will compete in her second Olympics. Osterman, 25, started the championship games at both the 2006 World Championships and 2007 World Cup. She played collegiately at Texas and held the NCAA Division I career strikeout record with 2,265 strikeouts in her four-year career. Osterman is the only three-time winner of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year (2003, 2005, 2006).
Stacey Nuveman
Playing in her third Olympics, catcher Stacey Nuveman was a key component in the gold-medal winning teams in 2000 and 2004. She had the only hit of the 2000 gold medal game and a home run in the 2004 gold-medal game. She didn't play in 2007 after the birth of her son, Chase. A graduate of UCLA, Nuveman holds the NCAA Division I softball career record for most home runs with 91.
Crystl Bustos
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Bustos, a third baseman, is on her third Olympic team. She's perhaps the most feared hitter in the world, and broke Olympic records with five home runs and 10 RBI in Athens in 2004.
Natasha Watley
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Perhaps the fastest player on the team, she made her second Olympic team after hitting .266 with 27 hits, two triples and 21 runs during international competition in 2007. Watley, 26, started all nine games at the 2004 Games, tying a team-best 12 hits for a .400 average. She was the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2003, when she led UCLA to Women’s College World Series title.
