US routs China 9-0 in softball

Stretching their winning streak to 21, the US (7-0) tied an Olympic record, one of the few they didn't already own with the nine-run outburst in the first, which included Kelly Kretschman's three-run homer, three doubles, three singles and two pitchers.

The United States scored nine first-inning runs to beat China 9-0 to move within two wins of another gold medal in Olympic softball.

Stretching their winning streak to 21, the US (7-0) tied an Olympic record, one of the few they didn’t already own with the nine-run outburst in the first, which included Kelly Kretschman’s three-run homer, three doubles, three singles and two pitchers.

All the runs came after two were out. Kretschman even had two strikes on her before the outfielder smashed a pitch over the fence in right for the US team’s 13th homer.

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Next up in Wednesday’s medal round for the Americans is Japan (5-1), a team they beat 7-0 earlier in the tournament.

The US has now recorded six shutouts, with five of them ending in the fifth by the international run-rule. With two games still to play, the Americans have outscored the field 53-1 (the run against Canada was unearned), bettering their 51-1 mark in Athens.

Cat Osterman pitched three shutout innings and Jennie Finch took care of the final two.

Earlier, the Netherlands ended its first Olympic tournament by getting its first win, 4-2 over Taiwan.

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The Dutch (1-6) are leaving China enriched by the experience and eager to spread softball’s word in Europe.

In the evening session, Japan got six shutout innings from Yukiko Ueno and beat Canada 6-0.

The Canadians (3-4) can only advance to the medal round if Venezuela (2-4) loses to Australia (4-2) in Monday’s last game. Venezuela will advance in the tie-breaker after beating Canada 2-0 earlier in the preliminaries.