Japan wins gold in marathon match against the U.S.

It was a 30th birthday that Yukiko Ueno will never forget.

Japan?s star pitcher led her team to gold in a 2-1 win over the U.S. at the ISF Women?s World Championships on Sunday afternoon.

In a defensive marathon, Ueno pitched ten innings after going the distance just a few hours earlier in the day where she registered a complete game in a 2-0 win over Australia.

In an incredible display of stamina and physical and mental endurance, Ueno threw more than 200 pitches in 17 innings of play on Sunday.

?I?m very happy. It?s very special to win on my birthday,? she said through the team?s translator.

\The win snapped the U.S.?s streak of seven consecutive world titles.

It?s the first time Japan has won gold in the event since 1970.

?It was so much pressure, physically and psychologically but I feel really great that I was able to play well under that kind of pressure.?

Ueno said the victory placed second on her list of accomplishments, right behind Japan?s gold medal performance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.?

It was the only loss for the United States throughout the entirety of the tournament.

Ueno faced strong competition in Keilani Ricketts of the United States, a 20 year-old who pitches for the University of Okalahoma.

Ricketts collected 10 strike outs over nine innings in what she said was one the longest games of her career.

?Your heart just takes over and it keeps you going,? she said.

?Japan?s a tough team to beat and we knew that. We just couldn?t get the runs across Ueno. She threw an amazing game.?

Ueno collected three strike-outs and gave up only thee hits to a U.S. team that posted 78 runs for and only one against in round robin play.

?It was a heck of a game. You can?t ask for much more,? said Ken Erikson, head coach of the U.S. team.

?There was some phenomenal defensive play and some great pitching.?

The game almost ended in the top of the eighth inning, with a runner on second for Japan, Eri Yamada stepped to the plate and crushed a ball directly to centre field.

USA?s Michelle Moultrie got a perfect read on the ball and reached over the fence just in time to steal what would have been a two-run homer.

?It was definitely one of the best catches I?ve ever seen in my life,? said Ricketts.

?That saved us and kept us going and gave us more chances to win the game.?

The U.S. responded in the bottom of the inning.

With only one out and Christi Orgeron on third base Sam Fischer attempted to bring her home on a sacrifice fly.

Unfortunately for the U.S. the ball was too short and Japan escaped the inning without giving up a run.

In the top of the ninth, Japan was finally able to break the tie.

Maki Furuta knocked a single down the first base line, driving home tiebreaker runner Misato Kawano.

In the bottom of the inning, Orgeron was moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Moultrie.

Veteran infielder Stacy May-Johnson was next up and battled Ueno with a 10 pitch at-bat, that featured six consecutive foul balls.

The tenth pitch was a strike and brought up Laura Gibson with two out and the tying
run on third base.

Gibson kept the U.S. alive, bringing Orgeron home on a single.

It was deja vu for Japan as Gibson aslo gave them nightmares in the Canadian

Open leading up to the world championships.

In that gold medal match, Gibson tied the game late with a home run though Japan
went on to win 9-6.

In the tenth, the offence continued for the USA.

Ricketts was pulled after recording the first out and right-hander Jackie Traina came in for two batters.

The US then changed looks again and brought in Chelsea Thomas who surrendered a hit.

With Haruna Sakamoto on third, Iwabuchi Yumi brought home the winning run on a sacrifice bunt.

Ricketts then returned to the circle to record the final out of the inning.

?Any given day I can?t tell you who is going to win,? said Erikson. ?You could flip a coin every single time.

?It?s two good teams matching up, we had two good pitching performances, two great defensive efforts and today they got us. Today, they were the better team.?

Erikson highlighted the inexperience of the U.S. team, especially compared to the Japanese players.

?We?ve only had five practices together,? he said.

?A lot of people don?t realize the team we just played is a professional team; they?re together 365 days out of the year. Our kids had five practices, we were together the last three and a half weeks.

?We?re a very young team; we have an average age of 21 with no Olympic experience and really no world championship experience.?

Erkison said he hopes the team is at the beginning stages of what could be

?another great run of championships for team USA.?

?I think this is the beginning of a new tradition,? said May-Johnson after the game.

?I think we showed that the USA is really deep in talent.?

?It?s a disappointing loss. It was a well played game and sometimes you play well and you lose and today was one of those days but overall I thought it was a great tournament. We were happy to come up here and have a good showing.?

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