{"id":4329,"date":"2010-07-01T19:27:04","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T02:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2010-07-01T19:28:05","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T02:28:05","slug":"usa-women-reach-the-title-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4329","title":{"rendered":"USA Women reach the title game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanford grads Mendoza, Haber, Lappin each record a hit for the Americans<\/strong>
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\n(click logo for original news story)<\/em><\/p>\n

The United States’ women’s softball national team turned two hits, a walk and an error into three runs in the bottom of the first inning, all it would need as it turned out, in beating Japan, 4-0, in the semifinals of the ISF World Championships in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Stanford grads Jessica Mendoza and Alissa Haber were right in the middle of the rally, with Mendoza drawing a walk and Haber adding a single. Both players scored in the inning.<\/p>\n

Cardinal grad Lauren Lappin led off the fifth with a double and eventually scored on Mendoza’s single.<\/p>\n

Stanford junior Ashley Hansen came on as a defensive replacement late in the game.<\/p>\n

Cat Osterman did the rest, throwing a one-hitter with two walks and 12 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

“It was a team effort,” Osterman said. “The offense came through early and I had to be at the top of my game because Japan is a great game.”<\/p>\n

China and Canada were scheduled to play a later semifinal, with that winner facing Japan on Friday in the double elimination tournament.<\/p>\n

“We’ve played every team that’s left so we’ll be ready,” Osterman said. “Everybody who came before us made the championship game and we know that’s what is expected of us.”<\/p>\n

The U.S. plays the survivor on Friday for the World Championship.<\/p>\n

“We’re ready for anybody,” American shortstop Natasha Watley said. “I hope we come out and put everything together.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanford grads Mendoza, Haber, Lappin each record a hit for the Americans (click logo for original news story) The United States’ women’s softball national team turned two hits, a walk and an error into three runs in the bottom of the first inning, all it would need as it turned out, in beating Japan, 4-0, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,17,9,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}