There’s a lot of pressure to open an Olympic Games. The eyes of the world are on you as an event that has been four years (or five years in Tokyo’s case) in the making finally gets underway.
That goes to another level when you’re taking on the host nation in a sport that hasn’t been in the Olympics in 13 years. That’s exactly what the Aussie Spirit, Australia’s women’s softball team, faced on Wednesday when they took on Japan.
While it was a welcome return to the Olympics, especially for Stacey Porter who was Australia’s sole player still in the squad from Beijing 2008, the result was far from what the team expected.
An 8-1 loss due to the mercy rule; a rule that sees the game called to an end once a team takes a lead by seven or more runs.
Despite the result, Porter admitted it was special to be back at the Olympic Games after such a long absence.
“It was a tough day today. We always knew Japan was going to be tough from day one. I feel like we were prepared for it but a few things didn’t go our way,” Porter said after the defeat.
“The opening game of the Olympic Games was a pretty big one. We’ve been out for 13 years and to come back in and be in the actual first competition, that was pretty special.
"We’ll go back to the drawing board tonight, and it’s the first game of a long tournament, so we’ll regroup and come out firing tomorrow.
“First game is generally the hardest, so we just have to take a deep breath and just remember our abilities. If we could get back on track we’ll be a different team tomorrow.”
The format of softball at the Olympics means that Porter’s prediction needed to be right. Australia couldn't afford to lose to Italy otherwise any hope of another Olympic medal would almost disappear.
In a group of six, each team plays each other once. At the end of the five matches, first plays second for the gold medal and third plays fourth for the bronze. No semifinals, no knockout matches. Straight to the medals.
This team wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The aptly named Aussie Spirit showed just that in an incredibly tough match against Italy on Thursday.
They were forced to wait through a nervous seven innings before they finally secured a 1-0 victory after pitcher Ellen Roberts came on for the last out to secure the win.
The celebration evoked just how much it meant to this team. So many of these players have been waiting for over a decade to get their Olympic chance and finally, here they were, celebrating in the green and gold.
Pitcher Kaia Parnaby was one of those players who could hardly keep the smile off her face. After narrowly missing out on the Beijing 2008 squad, she’s travelled the world playing high-level softball.
She told Sporting News ahead of the Games just how much softball’s Olympic return meant for not only her but the sport as a whole.
"It has relit this candle inside every softball player again, that they can dream again that they're going to be an Olympian,” Parnaby said.
“It even relit the fire in our tummies knowing that if we thought we were nearing the end of our career, just hold on, you're not done yet.
"It's opened more avenues and doors for so many younger softballers who have wanted to play for Australia. We've got endless possibilities.”
You could sense that feeling against Italy. The Spirit weren’t coming all this way, after 13 years, to be out of medal contention after two matches.
Taylah Tsitsikronis’ single run was all that separated the two sides. But it was a team effort to get her home. Tarni Stepto’s ground ball essentially sacrificed herself to allow Tsitsikronis to get to third. From there, Jade Walls drive down the middle gave Tsitsikronis the time she needed to get home and grab the only run of the match.
Even the incredible nerves of Ellen Roberts to come on in the final moment of the game and close it out, this team is as close as they come.
For many of these athletes, Tokyo could be their only Olympic experience. It has already been confirmed that softball will not be part of the Paris 2024 Olympics and will only return for Los Angeles in 2028.
So expect them to leave everything on the field for at least the next three, and hopefully four, matches.
.@SoftballOz beat Italy 1-0!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) July 22, 2021
A strong bounce back after the opening game defeat, @kaialynette pitches all but the final out and Ellen Roberts (@aussie_9) comes in to close the deal in a tension-filled finale 💪#Tokyo2020 | #TokyoTogether pic.twitter.com/pUrtQysaz0
Australian coach Laing Harrow admits that the Spirit’s lack of international competition over the last two years means it will take longer to adjust to some of the pitchers they’re facing. But hopefully, they’ll be more runs on the board for the coming matches.
“If you look at today’s scores, they were quite close,” Harrow said.
“Japan went to extra innings with Mexico and the US only won 2-0 against Italy yesterday.
“I think we have not seen a lot of each other the last two years and have not had the opportunity to see these pitchers, so it is going to take a minute for the girls to adjust.
"Once they get a bit more exposure to these pitchers, I would like to see more runs on the board.
“I guess it just shows the quality of pitchers we have in the competition. They are world class and hitting is not easy against them.”
Australia now sits in equal third in the group with Canada, who they face on Saturday morning in Yokohama.
Australia has won a medal in softball in every Olympics they have competed in (one silver and three bronze). A win against Canada and they will go close to booking their place in a medal match again.
