PAN AM GAMES United States softball team rallies for win, shot at gold

In the pool, Americans won three golds, three silvers and one bronze.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Giving up its first run in the Pan American Games didn't faze the U.S. women's softball team.
It just motivated pitcher Jennie Finch even more.
Finch struck out the next three batters in the fourth inning and finished with a three-hitter and 15 strikeouts as the Americans advanced to tonight's gold medal game with a 2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republic.
"Hopefully that showed the other team that I wasn't worried," Finch said.
American dominance
The United States, winners of the only two Olympic tournaments, the last four Pan Ams and the last five world championships, got two hits from Leah O'Brien-Amico.
With the Americans on top 1-0 on Lovieanne Jung's homer, the hosts tied it in the fourth. With no outs, Flordaliza Florian singled and Geovanny Nunez hit an RBI double.
The Americans scored the winning run with two outs in the top of the seventh on a three-base error.
After two Americans flied out to center, Crystl Bustos hit a ball to deep center. Florian got under it, but the ball glanced off her glove and dropped right in front of the fence as Bustos scampered to third. Stacey Nuveman followed with a single up the middle to break the tie.
Finch outpitched Melissa Penna, a high schooler from Miami who allowed six hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking four.
"She's probably the best one here that we've faced," Bustos said.
Moments later, Canada edged the United States 3-2 in men's play. The Canadians, 2-0 against the Americans in these Pan Ams, qualified for the gold medal game and could meet the U.S. team again.
In international softball, the top two finishers in round-robin play face off in the semifinals. The loser of that game plays the winner of the other semifinal for a spot in the championship game.
The U.S. men met Argentina today, and the winner plays Canada at night. The U.S. women will face either the Dominicans or Canada for the gold.
Swimming
In the pool, the Americans won three golds, three silvers and one bronze to bring their medal tally to 21.
Elizabeth Hill of Atlanta and Morgan Hentzen (La Habra Heights, Calif.) went 1-2 in the 400-meter freestyle. Hill finished in a personal-best 4 minutes, 10.48 seconds to break Sippy Woodhead's 1979 Pan Am record. The gold is Hill's first individual medal in international competition.
Diana MacManus (Irvine, Calif.) won the 100 backstroke, just ahead of Courtney Shealy (Columbia, S.C.). Argentina's Jose Meolans won the men's 100 freestyle.
Later Wednesday, Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.) opened the winning women's 400 freestyle relay with a 54.46, making her the fourth-fastest American in the history of the event. Christina Swindle (Miami), Colleen Lanne (Tucson, Ariz.) and Shealy also were also on the team that finished in 3:41.93 to break the 1995 Pan Am record (3:44.71).
Scanning the games
Two U.S. teams failed in their quest for gold, with the women's field hockey team falling 3-1 to Argentina in the championship. Agustina Garcia scored two goals for the Argentines.
The U.S. men's volleyball team lost to Cuba in the semifinals, a five-set thriller in which the Cubans rallied for the victory.
In boxing, featherweight Aaron Garcia of Vista, Calif., scored the United States' biggest win so far, beating Cuba's Yosvani Aguilera 16-14.
"It was a hard bout," Garcia said. "I liked the style he boxed, he fit my style well. He's more of a boxer. I kept up the pressure."
Tanya Lindenmuth of Trexlertown, Pa., won the keirin cycling race. Chris Witty of Milwaukee, a gold medalist in the 2002 Olympics in speedskating, finished second in the women's sprint to Nanci Contreras of Mexico.
Another U.S. gold went to Tim Thackrey of Tarzana, Calif., who defeated Oscar Salazar of Mexico 2-1 in the flyweight taekwondo division.
The Americans came away empty in three weightlifting classes. Carrie Boudreau of South Portland, Maine, who scheduled her chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer around the games, finished seventh in the 58-kilogram class.