Does anybody know which channel will air this match??
i really want to see it!!!

U.S. plays America's other softball team -- Greece
By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

August 19, 2004

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Before it's even played, the first-ever matchup between Greece and the United States in softball already has set one obscure Olympic record: most Californians.

With five shutouts in five games, the United States will face a Greek team Thursday that could pass for America's ``B'' team. Thirteen players on Greece's roster are American-born, including 11 from California, the cradle of softball.

Here, in the birthplace of democracy, fans have been lukewarm to watching a sport they know little about. Except, that is, when their adopted ``Hellas'' take the field with their gloves and aluminum bats.

``The support has been amazing,'' said second baseman Vanessa Czarnecki of Fresno, Calif. ``It makes me proud to play and proud to play for my family.''

Greece, which couldn't pull off an upset in basketball against the United States earlier this week, now gets to take on the closest thing America has to a Dream Team anymore.

The Americans steamrolled to their fifth win Wednesday, a 7-0 trouncing of Canada, which like Italy and Australia before them, was forced off the field after five innings by the international ``mercy rule.''

Against the Canadians, the Americans were as unrelenting as ever, jumping to an early lead and then putting things in the hands of their pitching staff, which is threatening to throw a tournament-long shutout.

``This team hates to give up runs,'' coach Mike Candrea said.

Jennie Finch pitched a one-hitter -- her team's fourth straight -- and Lisa Fernandez and Crystl Bustos homered for the U.S. squad, which outscored its opponents 31-0 and appears to be in a class by itself in the eight-team field.

Only Japan, which tied the Americans for seven innings before losing in the eighth, has tested the United States.

Consider: Three of the American team's wins have been shortened by the run-difference rule; the U.S. team has won 75 straight games; four of the five victories have been one-hitters; and the Canadians (2-3) were just the second team to get a runner to third base.

O Canada indeed. And O everyone else, too.

``We can't get carried away with ourselves,'' Fernandez warned. ``We're on a roll.''

It's going to be tough for Greece (2-3) to stop it. Sarah Farnworth, another Californian and one of three Farnworths playing for Greece -- along with her sister, Jamie, and cousin, Stacey -- may have to make her sixth start in six games.

Farnworth is the only quality pitcher for Greece, which received an automatic spot in the field as the host nation.

The Greek fans are still struggling with softball's nuances -- and so are the country's players.

In Wednesday's 6-0 loss to Japan, outfielder Aikaterini Koutougkou became the first Greek player to bat in the Olympics. She came up in the seventh inning to a rousing ovation and proceeded to reach on third baseman Reika Utsugi's error.

``I got a hit,'' she said, apparently unaware of the meaning of E-5 in the boxscore.

Speed, power, defense and pitching. The Americans put it all to use against Canada.

Natasha Watley turned infield grounders into base hits in the first and second, setting the tone. Bustos and Fernandez hit back-to-back homers to center in the fourth, shortly after Lovieanne Jung and Stacey Nuveman combined to keep the field scoreless against the United States.

Finch said she wasn't thinking about the shutout. Her teammates sure seemed to be.

In the fourth, Odamura reached on an infield single and raced to third on an error. Finch then fanned Angela Lichty before Alison Bradley hit a grounder to Jung, who never considered getting the out at first and immediately fired home to Nuveman. The two-time Olympian had the plate sealed off, but Odamura appeared to whisk the plate with her left hand before getting tagged.

Plate umpire Vincent Maoeng hesitated before emphatically calling out Odamura to keep the U.S. team's tournament-long shutout intact.

``We do not want to give up runs,'' Finch said, repeating Fernandez's words and apparently the mantra of the awesome American pitching staff: Fernandez, Finch, Lori Harrigan and Cat Osterman, now 5-for-5 in shutouts with 37 strikeouts.

``And we don't care if it's a pretty win or an ugly win,'' she said. ``We just want to win.''

Updated on Thursday, Aug 19, 2004 1:06 am EDT