[Alsfastball] U.S. continues to roll with 4-0 decision over China

Tue Aug 17 21:56:30 EDT 2004

Received: 8/17/04 12:11:52 PM
From: "Brian McCall" <bmccall at softball.org>
To: "Brian McCall" <bmccall at softball.org>

Subject: USA SOFTBALL- U.S. continues to roll with 4-0 decision over China

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ForImmediate Release: 8/17/04

U.S. continues to roll with 4-0 decisionover China

Athens,GREECE – A perfect 4-0 in Olympic competition, the USA Softball 
Olympicteam continued to roll along in round-robin play with a 4-0 victory 
over 1996silver medalist China. A one-hit performance from two-time Olympic 
goldmedalist Lori Harrigan (Las Vegas, NV) led theU.S. to the victory in 
her first start inthese Olympic Games. Harrigan, a south paw that works as 
a security supervisorat the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, totaled 
eight strikeouts while allowing only a buntsingle to the lead-off batter in 
the first inning.

TheU.S. pitching staff has yet to allow a run inthe 2004 Olympic Games and 
has given up just six total hits in the first fourgames. Outscoring 
opponents 24-0, the win marks the 14thshutout victory for Team U.S. 
inOlympic history and moves its current win streak to 74-0.

“Idefinitely felt better today than I did against Italy,” Harrigan said. “I 
was reallyloose and could move the ball a lot more. The heat actually 
helped mestay warm and in the game.”

TheU.S. bats provided Harrigan with an earlylead jumping ahead 2-0 after 
the first inning. A lead-off fielding errorby Chinese shortstop Qiang Wei, 
allowed table setter Natasha Watley (Irvine,CA) to reach first. Watley, who 
is hitting a scorching .462 with an on basepercentage of .533, looked as if 
she would be left stranded after twoconsecutive outs but Chinese pitcher 
Lixia Zhang kept the U.S. offensive attackalive with back-to-back walks to 
load the bases. Lovieanne Jung (Fountain Valley, CA), whohas shown patience 
at the plate the entire tournament, waited for her pitch anddrove a two RBI 
base hit to left center to put two runs on the board. Thefirst inning has 
been extremely productive for Team USA scoring in three of the four games 
so far.

Theleft-handed bat of two-time Olympian Leah O’Brien-Amico (Chino Hills, 
CA) added asecurity run in the bottom half of the second with a stand-up 
double to leftfield that scored Watley, who reached on walk and stole 
second. Amico’sdouble was the ninth extra base hit for the U.S. in the Games.

CatcherJenny Topping (Whittier, CA), making her first ever Olympic start, 
provided theU.S. with its 10th extra base hit of the Games when she belted 
a triplethe right field to kick start the U.S. in the third. Topping, who 
is 3-for-3 sofar in these Olympics, was left stranded after consecutive 
strikeouts.

Silentthrough the first three games, power hitter Crystl Bustos (Canyon 
Country, CA)finally connected in the bottom of the fifth driving a solo 
home run to leftfield for her second hit of the tournament.

TheU.S. threatened to bust the game open in thebottom of the sixth inning 
with no outs and two runners on thanks to anotherTopping base hit. A 
pitching change from the Chinese put right-hander WeiLu in the circle who 
managed to work out of the jam.

Harriganand crew held the Chinese scoreless in the seventh to secure its 
fourth victorybefore heading into Wednesday’s match-up against northern foe 
Canada. Set for battle at 5 p.m., Canada, whois coming off a solid 
eight-inning 1-0 win over Japan, is currently 1-3 in competition.

AboutASA

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National 
GoverningBody of softball in the United States and a memberof the United 
States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of thenation’s largest 
sports organizations and now sanctions competition inevery state through a 
network of 91 local associations. The ASA has grown froma few hundred teams 
in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representinga membership of 
more than three million. For more information on the ASA, 
visitwww.asasoftball.com.

About USA Softball

USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links 
theUSA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’National Team programs 
together. USA Softball is responsible for training,equipping and promoting 
these four National Teams to compete in internationaland domestic 
competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is oneof the only two 
women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement tocapture back-to-back gold 
medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven 
World Championship titlesincluding the last five consecutive. For more 
information about USA Softball,please visit www.usasoftball.com.

Brian McCall

Director of Communications

ASA/USA Softball

405-425-3463

bmccall at softball.org

www.asasoftball.comor www.usasoftball.com

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