# Softball at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Final results for the Softball competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics:

## Medals

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| United States Laura Berg Lisa Fernandez Lori Harrigan Michele Smith Christie Ambrosi Jennifer Brundage Crystl Bustos Sheila Cornell Danielle Henderson Jennifer McFalls Stacey Nuveman Leah O'Brien Dot Richardson Michelle Venturella Christa Lee Williams | Japan Misako Ando Yumiko Fujii Taeko Ishikawa Kazue Ito Yoshimi Kobayashi Shiori Koseki Mariko Masubuchi Naomi Matsumoto Emi Naito Haruka Saito Juri Takayama Hiroko Tamoto Reika Utsugi Miyo Yamada Noriko Yamaji | Australia Joanne Brown Kerry Dienelt Peta Edebone Tanya Harding Melanie Roche Natalie Ward Brooke Wilkins Sandra Allen Sue Fairhurst Selina Follas Fiona Hanes Kelly Hardie Sally McDermid Simmone Morrow Natalie Titcume |

## Schedule

Starting 17 September, there will be four preliminary games each day until 23 September for a total of 28 games. Two semi-final games played 25 September, with the game for third place same day. The final game for the gold medal played on 26 September at 7:30 pm local time.

## Competition format

Eight teams competed in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consisted of two rounds. The preliminary round followed a round robin format, where each of the teams played all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advanced to a Page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

## Group stage

* Qualified for the semifinals
* Eliminated
The top four teams advanced to the semifinal round.
| Team | W | L | RS | RA | WIN% | GB | Tiebreaker |
| Japan | 7 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 1.000 | – | – |
| Australia | 6 | 1 | 22 | 5 | .857 | 1.0 | – |
| China | 5 | 2 | 26 | 4 | .714 | 2.0 | – |
| United States | 4 | 3 | 19 | 6 | .571 | 3.0 | – |
| Italy | 2 | 5 | 3 | 27 | .286 | 5.0 | 1–0 vs. NZL |
| New Zealand | 2 | 5 | 12 | 22 | .286 | 5.0 | 0–1 vs. ITA |
| Cuba | 1 | 6 | 13 | 18 | .143 | 6.0 | 1–0 vs. CAN |
| Canada | 1 | 6 | 6 | 30 | .143 | 6.0 | 0–1 vs. CUB |

### Games
#### 17 September

Blacktown Olympic Centre :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| United States | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| WP: Lori Harrigan (1–0) LP: Vicky Bastarache (0–1) Home runs: CAN: None USA: Dot Richardson (1), Crystl Bustos (1), Jennifer Brundage (1) |||||||||||
Blacktown Olympic Centre :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| WP: Wang Lihong (1–0) LP: Susan Bugliarello (0–1) Sv: Zhang Yanqing (1) |||||||||||
Blacktown Olympic Centre :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Cuba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| WP: Juri Takayama (1–0) LP: Estela Milanés (0–1) |||||||||||
Blacktown Olympic Centre :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Australia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| WP: Melanie Roche (1–0) LP: Gina Weber (0–1) Home runs: NZL: None AUS: Peta Edebone (1) ||||||||||||||

### Preliminary round

| 17 September | 10:30 | Canada | 0 | – | 6 | United States | |
| 17 September | 13:00 | Italy | 0 | – | 5 | China PR | |
| 17 September | 17:30 | Cuba | 1 | – | 4 | Japan | |
| 17 September | 20:00 | New Zealand | 2 | – | 3 | Australia | IN 10 INNINGS |
| 18 September | 10:30 | China PR | 1 | – | 3 | Japan | |
| 18 September | 13:00 | Cuba | 0 | – | 3 | United States | |
| 18 September | 17:30 | New Zealand | 3 | – | 2 | Canada | IN 10 INNINGS |
| 18 September | 20:00 | Australia | 7 | – | 0 | Italy | |
| 19 September | 10:30 | Japan | 2 | – | 1 | United States | |
| 19 September | 13:00 | Italy | 1 | – | 0 | Cuba | |
| 19 September | 17:30 | New Zealand | 0 | – | 10 | China PR | MERCY RULE, BOTTOM 6TH |
| 19 September | 20:00 | Australia | 1 | – | 0 | Canada | |
| 20 September | 10:30 | New Zealand | 6 | – | 2 | Cuba | |
| 20 September | 13:00 | Japan | 1 | – | 0 | Australia | IN 8 INNINGS |
| 20 September | 17:30 | Canada | 7 | – | 1 | Italy | |
| 20 September | 20:00 | China PR | 2 | – | 0 | United States | IN 14 INNINGS |
| 21 September | 10:30 | New Zealand | 0 | – | 1 | Italy | |
| 21 September | 13:00 | United States | 1 | – | 2 | Australia | IN 13 INNINGS |
| 21 September | 17:30 | Cuba | 0 | – | 7 | China PR | |
| 21 September | 20:00 | Japan | 4 | – | 3 | Canada | IN 10 INNINGS |
| 22 September | 10:30 | United States | 2 | – | 0 | New Zealand | |
| 22 September | 13:00 | Canada | 1 | – | 2 | Cuba | |
| 22 September | 17:30 | China PR | 0 | – | 1 | Australia | |
| 22 September | 20:00 | Japan | 2 | – | 0 | Italy | IN 8 INNINGS |
| 23 September | 10:30 | Australia | 8 | – | 1 | Cuba | |
| 23 September | 13:00 | China PR | 1 | – | 0 | Canada | |
| 23 September | 17:30 | New Zealand | 1 | – | 2 | Japan | |
| 23 September | 20:00 | United States | 6 | – | 0 | Italy | |

### Semi finals

| 25 September | 9:30 | Japan | 1 | – | 0 | Australia |
| 25 September | 12:00 | China PR | 0 | – | 3 | United States |

### Final

| 25 September | 19:30 | Australia | 0 | – | 1 | United States |

### Grand final

| 26 September | 19:30 | Japan | 1 | – | 2 | United States | IN 8 INNINGS |

## Medal round

The loser of 1&2 seed game played the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match won the bronze medal while the winner went on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.
| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Gold medal game | Gold medal game | Gold medal game |
| 1 | Japan | 1 | | | | 1 | Japan | 1 |
| 2 | Australia | 0 | | | | 4 | United States | 2 8 |
| | | | 2 | Australia | 0 | | | |
| | | | 4 | United States | 1 | | | |
| 3 | China | 0 | | | | | | |
| 4 | United States | 3 10 | | | | | | |

## Final team standings

| Rank | Team | Games | Wins | Losses |
| | United States (USA) | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| | Japan (JPN) | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| | Australia (AUS) | 9 | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | China (CHN) | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | Italy (ITA) | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | New Zealand (NZL) | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | Cuba (CUB) | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Canada (CAN) | 7 | 1 | 6 |