By Syndicated Content
By Paresh Dave
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) – United States softball swarmed their hero Amanda Chidester after her extra-inning single beat Australia 2-1 during the penultimate day of round-robin play.
The Americans could secure a date with Japan in the gold-medal match if the Olympics hosts hold off third-place Canada later on Sunday.
Tarni Stepto, Australia’s youngest player at 21, held U.S. batters to five hits over seven and 1/3 innings. Throwing nearly as fast as flamethrower and U.S. counterpart Monica Abbott, Stepto earned outs in key spots to keep the United States off the scoreboard until Chidester’s winning hit.
Amanda Chidester leads Team USA past Australia, into Olympic softball gold-medal game
YOKOHAMA, Japan The United States had just given up its first run and was two outs away from losing for the first time in the Olympic softball tournament.
Amanda Chidester stepped up to the plate with two runners on and slapped the ball into left field. In my head, I m like: Score! Score two! Score two! Score two! she recalled. When I got up and everyone was running out at me, I was like, We did it!
Ally Carda and Haylie McCleney came across the plate on Chidester s eighth-inning single, giving the United States a pulsating 2-1 victory over Australia on Sunday and a likely rematch with defending champion Japan in Tuesday s gold-medal game.
US softball team battles against Australia Share Updated: 5:58 AM EDT Jul 25, 2021 By Ronald Blum, Associated Press
US softball team battles against Australia Share Updated: 5:58 AM EDT Jul 25, 2021
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Show Transcript Yeah, watashi wa Monica Abbott Odus was that good? My name is Monica Abbott and I am from Salinas California. I m a left handed pitcher and I play both in the United States and Japan. My first year playing for Toyota was 2009 and more than anything, it gave me an opportunity to continue playing. Okay, we do have a league in the United States, but the league in Japan is definitely the strongest in the world. When I first came here, communication was so hard practicing with my team. Really helped just keep trying with this little bit of japanese that I knew and a little bit of english that they knew and just finding our own common language on the team. The longer I ve been in Japan playing softball, the more I love be
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