Women's National Team History

The USA Softball Women’s National Team is the most decorated program in the sport’s history with five Olympic medal finishes, nine Pan American Championships and 11 WBSC World Championship Gold Medals. Team USA has advanced to every Olympic Gold Medal game in the history of the sport, claiming three consecutive Olympic Gold Medals at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games and two Olympic Silver Medals at the 2008 and 2020 Olympic Games.

Click the links on the left to find a list of all-time rosters + results or to go year-by-year for rosters + results!

Since softball was introduced into the Pan American Games in 1979, the USA Softball Women's National Team has dominated, winning nine Gold Medals and a two Silver Medals.

In 11 Pan American Games, the USA Softball Women's National Team has been nothing short of outstanding. The USA has a 100-5 all-time record since it's debut in 1979. In total, Team USA has Gold Medals in 1979, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2019.

At the most recent Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Team USA led the Pan American Games in nearly every statistical category. As a team, the squad hit .311  throughout the week, outscoring opponents 45-6. The pitching staff combined for a 0.81 ERA, striking out 87 batters and capturing four shutout wins. Monica Abbott led tournament with a 4-0 record and 48 strikeouts in 28 innings of work. Haylie McCleney had a monstrous streak at the plate, leading all batters with a .609 (14-for-23) batting average, a 1.043 slugging percentage and nine runs scored. McCleney also finished tied atop the leaderboard with Delaney Spaulding in home runs with three each while Spaulding’s 11 RBI led the tournament.

The USA Softball Women’s National Team has participated in 16 WBSC Women’s World Championships and has finished out of the medals only once, the 1982 World Championships in Chinese Taipei. It took Australia, Chinese Taipei and an outbreak of stomach flu to make it happen.

 The USA Softball Women’s National Team program has brought home a total of 11 Gold Medals, making them perhaps the most successful team sport on the Olympic program over the last three decades. They have also collected four Silver World Championship Medals   In World Championship play, the USA has amassed a lifetime record of 152-13.  
The U.S. went 8-1 to capture the first ever gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. The U.S. defeated China 3-1 in the gold medal game. Its lone loss of the Games came to Australia (2-1) in round-robin play.

At the 2000 Olympics the U.S. had its 112 game win streak snapped with a 2-1 11 inning loss to Japan in round-robin play. The U.S. proceeded to lose two more games (2-0 to China and 2-1 to Australia). It was the first time in the history of USA Softball that a Women’s National Team lost three games in a row. 
The U.S. rebounded to win five consecutive games including wins in the playoffs over China (3-0 in 10 innings), Australia (1-0) and Japan (2-1 in eight innings) in the gold medal game to capture its second consecutive gold medal.

In Athens at the 2004 Olympic Games, the U.S. Women’s National Team was anointed as the “Real Dream Team” by Sports Illustrated. The performance by the U.S. Olympic Softball Team will go down in history as one of the most dominant ever. The U.S. squad led by Mike Candrea was considered the best women’s softball team ever assembled and possibly the most dominant Olympic team of any sport. With its perfect 9-0 record and its string of eight consecutive shutouts, this team proved it was indeed something ‘Special’. The U.S. outscored its opponents 51-1 in nine games and did not allow a run until the sixth inning of its final game.

The team’s domination is well documented in the record books as the U.S. set 11 different Olympic records during the 2004 Olympics. Below are the Olympic Records Broken by Team USA during the 2004 Olympic Games: 

OLYMPIC RECORDS BROKEN
Most Doubles: 11- USA (2004) Previous was 10-Australia (1996) 
Most Triples: 4- USA (2004)  Previous was 2- Japan (1996) 
Most Runs Batted In: 46- USA (2004)  Previous was 32- USA (1996) 
Most Runs Scored: 51- USA (2004)  Previous was 41- USA (1996) 
Fewest Runs Allowed: 1- USA (2004 Previous was 7- Australia, China and USA (2000) 
Most Stolen Bases: 8- USA (2004) Previous was 7- Japan (2000) 
Most Shutouts: 8- USA (2004) Previous was 5- USA & China (2000) 
Most Stolen Bases: 5- USA, Natasha Watley (2004) Previous was 3, Jackie Smith, N. Z. (2000) 
Most Consecutive Victories: 9- USA (2004) Previous was 8, Japan (2000) 
Highest Team Batting average: .343 USA (2004) Previous was .296- USA (1996) 
Highest Slugging %: .559 USA (2004)  Previous was .465- JAPAN (1996) 
Most Hits: 73 USA (2004) Previous was 70- USA (1996) 
Lowest Earned Run Average: 0.12 USA (2004) Previous was 0.25- USA (2000) 
Batting Average: Lisa Fernandez .545 USA, (2004) Previous was .524 (Chika Kodama, Japan (1996) 
Most Home Runs: 5, Crystl Bustos USA (2004)  Previous was 4, Haruka Saito, Japan (1996) & Peta Edebone, Australia (2000) 
Most Runs Batted In: Crystl Bustos, 10 (2004 Previous was 9, Shelia Cornell, USA (1996) 
Most Runs Scored: 9, Crystl Bustos, 9 (2004) Tied  Chanfung Zhang, China (’96) 
Most Wins: 9 – USA (2004)  Previous was 8 – USA (1996) & JAPAN (2000)

At the 2008 Olympic Games, Team USA proved a dominant force through the Games, remaining undefeated until the Gold Medal game against Japan where the U.S. fell 3-1 to earn the Olympic silver medal. Despite falling two runs short of their fourth Olympic Gold Medal, Team USA’s dominance remained throughout as they outscored their opponents 58-5. The offense collected 15 home runs with six coming from Crystl Bustos and four from Jessica Mendoza. Bustos led the offense with an impressive .500 batting average (11-for-22) through nine games. Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, and Jennie Finch combined for 79 strikeouts in the circle with Abbott going a perfect 3-0 and Finch remaining undefeated with two wins. Osterman led the staff in strikeouts, retiring 33 of her 62 faced batters.

In Tokyo at the 2020 Olympic Games, the U.S. Women's National Team returned to the Olympic stage after a 13-year hiatus alongside Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Italy. The U.S. posted an undefeated 5-0 record through opening round, which included two walk-off wins over then-No. 8 Australia and then-No. 2 Japan. Advancing to its fifth-straight Gold Medal game, Team USA came up short with a 2-0 loss to Japan to bring home the Olympic silver medal.