FERNANDEZ EYES VISIONS OF OLYMPIC SOFTBALL GOLD : POWERHOUSE U.S. TEAM FAVORED TO WIN IT IN SPORT'S DEBUT.Byline: Tom Saladino Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Years of frustration for American softball players ends this summer when the sport makes its Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. debut July 21. ``Either we wore them down,'' said Don Porter, executive director of the Amateur Softball Association, ``or they gave it to us just to keep us quiet.'' Making it even sweeter for Porter and American stars Lisa Fernandez Lisa Fernandez (born February 22, 1971, in New York City) is a renowned softball pitcher of Cuban-Puerto Rican descent who established an Olympic record in softball with 25 strikeouts as a member of the United States Women Olympic Softball Team. and Dot Richardson Dorothy ("Dot") Gay Richardson (born September 22, 1961 in Orlando, Florida) is a former international softball player. She used to play on the sidelines at her brothers' baseball games. is the fact that Team USA
Team USA (also known as Team NWA or Team TNA) is a wrestling faction brought together as part of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's X-Cup Tournaments, which is favored to win the gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize in the eight-team, round-robin competition at 8,500-seat Golden Park, the home of the minor-league Columbus RedStixx The Columbus RedStixx were a minor league baseball team in Columbus, Georgia. They were a Class A team in the South Atlantic League, and a farm team of the Cleveland Indians. The RedStixx played home games at Golden Park, except during 1996. . The ballpark in this southwest Georgia Southwest Georgia is a fourteen-county region in the U.S. state of Georgia. A common acronym used is SOWEGA. The largest city is Albany. Counties include Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, and city has undergone a $1.8 million face-lift for the Olympics. Other participating teams are Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. , Canada, Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei (Traditional Chinese: 中華臺北; Simplified Chinese: 中华台北; Hanyu Pinyin: , Australia, China, Japan and The Netherlands. Thirty-two games will be played, culminating with the championship game July 30. ``We pounded away at it. It's been a 30-year challenge,'' Porter said. ``It took a while, but it's worth it. It certainly took a part of my life.'' Porter began lobbying the International Olympic Committee “IOC” redirects here. For other uses, see IOC (disambiguation). The International Olympic Committee (French: Comité International Olympique) is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on June 23 to make softball an Olympic event in 1962. It came close to gaining medal status in 1984, again in 1988 and in 1992 before finally getting approval in June 1991 for the '96 Games. The U.S. squad is led by Fernandez, a four-time All-American at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX , who plays third base when she's not pitching. The glue of the team is the shortstop, Richardson, another ex-Bruin who at 34 is the oldest member of the team. Pitcher Christa Williams is the youngest at 18. Fernandez relishes the role of the U.S. team being the favorites. ``Going to the Olympics isn't our sole goal. Going to the Olympics isn't enough. We want to win the gold,'' she said. ``If we win the silver, it would be a disappointment. ``We have one thing in mind, and that's to win a gold medal.'' Richardson, an orthopedic surgeon who graduated from UCLA in 1983, planned to retire after medical school but changed her mind in 1991 when it was announced that softball would be a medal sport in the 1996 games. ``I feel that through me, everyone from the past can live this experience, because this is not just about Dot Richardson or this team, this is about all of them also,'' she said. ``This is a dream. We are living our dreams, and it doesn't stop until we get our goals.'' Their goal, of course, is to win the gold. That places added pressure on the Americans, who are overwhelming favorites for the gold. ``They will feel the pressure. It's not the national championship, and it's not the world championship. This is the Olympics, the first one,'' Porter said. ``They certainly are the major favorites. But I don't think it's a lock. There are several teams that could be up there on the gold medal stand. ``When you get into Olympic competition, what you did in the past doesn't always mean anything. The U.S. is a strong team, but there are two or three, maybe four others. China, Australia and Japan should do well, and Chinese Taipei, a young team, has developed quite well. They're all going to be contenders.'' Ralph Raymond, coach of the 15-member inaugural squad, has an imposing international record. As coach of the USA women's national teams, Raymond has won five gold medals in International Softball Federation play, including three consecutive titles (1986, 1990, 1994) for a combined record of 72-1. His teams also have produced 12 other gold medals representing the United States in international competition. Since 1986, they are 110-1 in international play, losing only to China, 1-0, in the Superball '95 tournament last summer at Golden Park. The Americans recovered, however, and beat China 8-0 in the title game. ``Being named softball's first Olympic coach was a pinnacle point in my career,'' said Raymond. ``But now we have another mountain to climb. Winning the gold medal will mean I've finally reached the top of the mountain.'' The burden of being favored to do just that doesn't bother Raymond. ``I don't think there's any pressure,'' he said. ``It's just that you never know. Hopefully, we'll be ready for anything that comes along.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Pitcher-third baseman Lisa Fernandez, a four- time All-American at UCLA, sees herself and her USA teammates as gold-medal favorites. ``If we win the silver, it would be a disappointment,'' she said. (2) ``Winning the gold medal will mean I've finally reached the top of the mountain.'' Ralph Raymond U.S. Olympic softball team coach Associated Press |
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