Team USA softball has had a thrilling run through the Olympics and its round-robin schedule ended Monday with another heroic walk-off home run – this time from Kelsey Stewart.
Stewart hit the game-winning home run off Japan’s Yamato Fujita. The ball just went over the glove of right fielder Yuka Ichiguchi for the first U.S. home run of the tournament.
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“It’s like you dream about when you’re a little kid, about hitting a home run at the Olympics, let alone a walk-off,” Stewart said.
The U.S. won the game, 2-1, and finished their play 5-0 and will have a rematch with Japan in the gold-medal game.
Fujita was on a roll throughout the entire game up until Stewart’s home run. She didn’t allow a hit until Haylie McCleney singled off of her to start the sixth inning.
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Janie Reed would reach on an infield hit with a bouncer to second base. Valerie Arioto hit a two-out RBI single.
Ally Carda started the game on the mound. It was her first start during the Olympics as Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott have started every other one. She allowed one run on five hits with nine strikeouts.
“Ally Carda has had tremendous success against them,” U.S. coach Ken Eriksen said. “Ally was scheduled for this game as soon as the Olympic team was named, because we knew the schedule. … If we had to win this game to get into the gold medal game, Ally Carda was still going to get the ball.”
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Japan’s lone run came in the first inning on a passed ball.
The gold medal game on Tuesday will be a rematch of the 2008 Olympics – the last time softball was a sport in the Games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
