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Sweet redemption Fernandez gets some payback in win over Australia
BLACKTOWN, Australia -- Finally, something noteworthy happened during regulation play of a softball game involving the U.S. After sitting through three extra-inning games that featured little but foul balls, pop-ups and strikeouts (note to IOC: either move the mound back from 40 feet to the NCAA distance of 43 feet to give fielders and batters a little action or just start the game with the international tiebreaker of putting a runner on second), I was prepared to settle in for another long night of waiting for someone to make a mistake.
It was around 8 o'clock, and the U.S. was warming up for the top of the fourth inning in its game against Australia, the winner advancing to Tuesday's gold medal game. Suddenly, a couple dozen spectators scurried toward a windowed office in the stands as though they had just been called to dinner.
Curious, I glanced at my press-box TV monitor and saw Cathy Freeman, dressed in a full bodysuit, preparing to run what one local paper had breathlessly called "The Race of Our Lives."
As the U.S. team fired the ball around the infield, the audience held its collective breath, ears plastered to radios, eyes locked on the people at the window, whose eyes were fixed on a TV within. I watched my silent monitor. A few nervous moments passed and then a great roar erupted from the stands. Somehow, the crowd knew before the race was over: Cathy Freeman had won the 400! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Alas, the spectators' euphoria would not last long. The Americans, on a mission to "pay back" all the teams that had contributed to their unprecedented three-game losing streak earlier in the week, started to hit the ball in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and pinch runner Jennifer McFalls on second and Leah O'Brien-Amico at first, the perpetually perky Dot Richardson smacked a base hit that brought in McFalls. That's when U.S. pitcher Lisa Fernandez, who has a rather tortured history against the Aussies, started to get nervous.
Twice during Olympic competition against Australia, Fernandez had failed to preserve a lead. Four years ago in Atlanta, 9 2/3 innings of perfect pitching was ruined when Australia's Joanna Brown blasted a two-out, two-run homer to win 2-1. It was the only U.S. loss in the tournament. Just to rub it in, someone later sent Fernandez an anonymous postcard with a picture of the team celebrating Brown's homer. In a round-robin game against the same Aussies here last Thursday, Fernandez had dominated through 12 2/3 innings with 25 strikeouts. But with two outs and a runner at second (courtesy of the international tiebreaker rule) and the U.S. hanging on to a one-run lead, Peta Edebone took a Fernandez drop ball and smashed it out of the park, leaving Fernandez and her teammates gobsmacked. "I'm speechless," said Fernandez after the game. "I'm waiting for someone to pinch me to wake me up from this nightmare."
And so, when Edebone stepped to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh Monday night, the crowd once again held its breath. But she grounded out to third, leaving all possible heroics to postcard-girl Brown.
Fernandez said a quick prayer: God, help me make these the best pitches I've thrown this tournament. In any case, they were good enough.
When Brown hit a bouncer back to the mound, Fernandez got the great satisfaction of throwing the ball to first for the out and the win. She pumped her fist, and flash bulbs popped.
It was, perhaps, another postcard in the making.
SI For Women staff writer Kelli Anderson is in Sydney covering the Games for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back to read Anderson's behind-the-scenes reports from Down Under.
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