Nobody's PerfectOn the brink of no-hitting Australia, The U.S. softball team lost a crazy game in extra inningsby Peter King
The most enduring two hours of the first week of the Atlanta Olympics came on Tuesday night at the Georgia Dome, when Kerri Strug's heroic vault capped a dramatic gold medal performance by the U.S. women's gymnastics team. But the most
unbelievable two hours of the first seven days of competition came yesterday in a cozy softball park in Columbus, Ga. You won't get any argument about that from the 8,605 fans who packed Golden Park.
Celebrating her fifth-inning home run prematurely, Tyler didn't watch her step (left), a mistake Brown did not repeat after her blast ended the game.
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Here's what happened in Australia's 2-1, 10-inning upset of the United States: An American not known for her power, third baseman Dani Tyler, hit one of the longest homers in the Olympic tournament, then—in her unabashed glee—cost her team the game and her pitcher a perfect game by failing to step on home plate after she rounded the bases. The U.S. pitcher, Lisa Fernandez, had a perfect game for 9-2/3 innings. The hero for Australia, Joanne Brown, had never homered off Fernandez in three years of batting practice (they were teammates at UCLA) or in international competition. But with the Aussies trailing 1-0 and down to their last strike in the bottom of the 10th, Brown hit a rope over the centerfield fence. With that one swing, a potential 10-inning perfect game turned into a defeat. It was the United States' second international loss in 115 games stretching over a decade.
And wouldn't you know that the winning pitcher was Tanya Harding (no relation to you-know-who). Harding is the hired gun who spent a semester at UCLA in 1995 and returned to Australia immediately after leading the Lady Bruins to an NCAA championship. The Pac-10 put the program on one-year's probation for misusing scholarships, and the NCAA may yet take away UCLA's national title.
The Aussies lost twice to the U.S. at the 1994 world championships, then went 0-6 against the Americans in an exhibition tour Down Under last November. And with the best softball pitcher in the world, Fernandez, throwing 76-mph fastballs from 40 feet, did anyone really expect a different result yesterday?
Then again, when's the last time you saw someone miss the plate on a home run trot?
With two outs in the fifth, Tyler ripped a fastball from Harding over the centerfield fence. As she rounded third, Tyler feigned shock while looking at the on-deck hitter, Laura Berg, who was waiting near home to congratulate her teammate. Two steps before she reached the plate, Tyler raised her arms to double-high-five Berg, but in doing so she took her eyes off home, and her right foot passed over it. Television replays showed that her foot clearly missed the plate.
Australia appealed, and after a discussion with International Softball Federation (ISF) director of umpires Merle Butler, first base ump Michael Hornak called Tyler out. She may go down as the Bill Buckner of fast-pitch softball, but Tyler was keeping a stiff upper lip afterward. "I'm very upset," she said, "but I won't whine about it."
Fernandez was overpowering in setting down the first 29 Aussies she faced, but her old teammate Brown had the last laugh.
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The way Fernandez was pitching, Tyler's gaffe didn't weigh so heavily on the U.S. at the time. But the game was still scoreless after the regulation seven innings and remained so after two extra innings. In the 10th the ISF's tiebreaker rule took effect: A runner was placed on second base at the start of each half-inning. In the top of the 10th, the U.S. sent out Dionna Harris, and after first baseman Sheila Cornell singled up the middle, Aussie centerfielder Haylea Petrie threw the ball over third base and into a photo booth. Harris trotted home. The Americans had their run.
In the bottom of the 10th, Kim Cooper waved feebly at an outside pitch—strikeout number 15 for Fernandez—and Jocelyn Lester bounced out to Tyler. When Brown fell behind 1 and 2 in the count, the crowd stood and chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" Brown clubbed the next pitch out of the park. "Pitching 101 says with two strikes you don't throw it right over the plate," a shaken Fernandez said afterward. "I probably overthrew it."
Said Brown, "Were they chanting? I kept my head in, swung and got lucky, I guess."
The ball never got 15 feet off the ground. "If it wasn't gone," Fernandez said glumly, "I knew it'd knock the fence over." Coming home, Brown leaped into the air and landed on the plate with both feet. Stunned, the partisan fans didn't know what to do. So they stood and cheered. The spent players exchanged handshakes and hugs.
"Good hit, Jo Jo," Fernandez told Brown.
"You were great," Brown replied.
Unbelievable.
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SI Olympic Dailies
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