U.S. teams prosper in American sports

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

SYDNEY, Australia -- Americans won American games at the Olympics today -- softball, baseball and volleyball.

Soccer, that's still the world's sport.

The U.S. softball team completed a comeback almost as amazing as the fact that it lost three Olympic tournament games in the first place, beating Japan 2-1 in eight innings to win its second straight gold.

In baseball, the Americans erased a two-run deficit and knocked off South Korea 3-2 to advance to the gold-medal game against Cuba. The United States also edged South Korea in volleyball, moving the U.S. team on to the semifinals.

A men's soccer gold will have to wait. The U.S. team lost for the first time in Sydney, falling to Spain 3-1 in a semifinal match.

In softball, the Americans went into extra innings again, but came out on top this time.

Laura Berg hit a ball over the left-fielder's head with runners on first and second and the score tied at 1. Shiori Koseki had the ball in her glove but dropped it as she fell backward, allowing pinch-runner Jennifer McFalls to score and setting off a World Series-esque celebration among the Americans.

The gold medal favorites entered the Olympics with a 110-game winning streak. But they lost in the prelims to China, Australia and Japan -- all in extra innings -- and barely made the medal round. The Americans then defeated all three teams that beat them the first time around to collect the gold.

The victory means former UNLV standout Lori Harrigan, who won two games in the Olympics but did not pitch in the gold medal game, will be returning to Las Vegas with her second gold medal. She also was a member of the gold-medal winning squad in Atlanta four years ago.