Beijing Olympic Games

Olympic softball team tested by pro All-Stars

By JEFF LATZKE, AP Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Kelly Kretschman drove in four runs and Crystl Bustos hit a go-ahead two-run double to help the U.S. Olympic team overcome Cat Osterman’s shaky outing in a 10-8 victory over a team of pro softball All-Stars on Friday night.

Jaime Clark homered twice off Osterman to help the National Pro Fastpitch All-Stars open a 5-1 lead, but the three-time Olympic gold medalists had enough firepower to rally for the win.

Back-to-back errors by Clark helped the U.S. cut into the deficit in the fourth inning. She misplayed grounders by Natasha Watley and Jessica Mendoza before Bustos was intentionally walked, and Kretschman hit a three-run double to left-center field to get the Americans within 5-4.

Mendoza then tied it on a grounder in the fifth, and Bustos’ double off the right field wall put the U.S. up 7-5. Kretschman followed with a run-scoring grounder, and Andrea Duran’s home run to left field stretched the lead to five.

Kellie Wilkerson hit a three-run home run to center field off Jennie Finch (12-1) in the seventh to cut the lead to 10-8.

U.S. coach Mike Candrea had said the weekend, which also features the U.S. team’s only exhibitions against Olympic opponents, would be a mid-term exam leading up to the Beijing Games in August.

The NPF team provided quite the test, and at the site of the Americans’ only loss on their current Olympic warmup tour.

Virginia Tech’s Angela Tincher threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 victory this March that snapped the U.S. team’s 185-game winning streak in pre-Olympic exhibitions. The Olympic team has won 22 straight games since then, and had outscored its previous nine opponents 117-0.

The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday and China on Sunday.

Clark, a former U.S. national team member, broke up the shutout streak with a two-run shot over a set of bleachers in left field in the second inning. Savannah Brown and Clark then hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth off Osterman.

Osterman had allowed only four runs and one home run in 64 2-3 innings on the “Bound 4 Beijing” tour before giving up five runs in four innings to the NPF team.

Katie Burkhart, who pitched back-to-back shutouts to lead Arizona State to the Women’s College World Series title earlier this week, gave up eight runs in 4 1-3 innings.

She gave the Americans a scare in the first inning when Mendoza, the Americans’ RBI leader, crumpled to the ground after getting hit just below the left knee with a pitch. She stayed on the ground for a few minutes while trainers attended to her, and eventually put a protective sleeve on her leg before trotting down to first.