Softball & Baseball Review: Going out in style

(BEIJING, August 25) -- The Softball and Baseball tournaments at the Beijing 2008 Olympics were filled with dazzling skills, compelling action, inspiring sportsmanship, and fascinating results.

The traditional North American powers of the United States and Cuba faced a not entirely unexpected challenge from skilled Asian teams based in Japan and the Republic of Korea, and in the end found themselves on the short end of the bat.

The Baseball tournament was really a four team affair. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Cuba faced the Republic of Korea in the gold medal game and lost to them for the second time in the tournament. The combination of speed and power is deadly in baseball and a deep and balanced club from the Republic of Korea had too much for the aging but excellent Cubans.

Two more famed baseball nations contested the bronze medal, with the former Olympic champion United States' minor league prospects coming out on top of Japan's first-line professionals.

Four game but overmatched ball clubs from Chinese Taipei, Canada, China and the Netherlands filled out the entry list and they played the game well, but the four won less games in total than gold medal winner the Republic of Korea did by itself. The six wins in the bottom half of the standings just matched the silver medalist Cuba.

Baseball, like its fellow native basketball, has long since moved into an international arena, though critically, it does not enjoy wide popularity in Europe. Throughout the Americas it is the grand old game, and with the results from Beijing, we can see that the epicenter of world-class amateur baseball has moved across the Pacific.

The trend was mirrored to perfection in the sister sport of Softball, where three teams had winning records in the preliminary round and those same three earned medals in the playoffs, crowning a first time Olympic champion.

The Team USA juggernaut ran up against an immovable pitcher from Japan. Ueno Yukiko pitched 28 innings in 36 hours, losing the early playoff game to Team USA and then winning the last two, against bronze medal winner Australia and the gold medal grand finale.

This was the first defeat for the three time defending Olympic champion United States Softball team in eight years, although they had defeated Japan twice earlier in this tournament. Timing is everything, in hitting as well as the Page playoff system, and Ueno allowed her highly favored opponents none in either.

The Olympic venues at Fengtai Softball Field and Wukesong Baseball Field are cozy and well kept and were filled with happy cheering fans of a game that feels right at home in Asia.