USA softball, with three Florida Gators on roster, falls to Japan for silver at Tokyo Olympics

After a perfect run through pool play, the United States had to settle for silver on the softball diamond at the Tokyo Olympics.

Team USA was shut out 2-0 by host Japan on Tuesday in the gold medal match.

Three former Florida Gators standouts — Kelsey Stewart, Aubree Munro and Michelle Moultrie — were regulars in the United States’ starting lineup during the six-game tournament. They all started the gold medal game.

“It’s turned into a very nerve wracking and a very humbling experience when you watch players that you’ve known for such a long time” compete on the Olympic stage, UF coach Tim Walton said in a phone interview with the Miami Herald on Monday. “I’ve been hanging on every pitch. ... It’s been just emotions that you never even knew you had toward the sport when you’re watching your players play it that on that kind of a prestigious level.”

They weren’t the biggest names on the roster or the ones catching all the headlines.

But they made their impact on the team and played valuable roles during Team USA’s run in Tokyo.

Moultrie drove in Team USA’s first run of the tournament with an RBI single in the fourth inning of a 2-0 win over Italy to begin pool play. The 31-year-old outfielder has been a member of the U.S. National Team since she graduated from the University of Florida in 2012. She had to wait more nearly a decade — softball was not part of the the Olympic Games that summer in London in 2012 or in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016, and the Tokyo Olympics were delayed a year due to COVID-19 — for the opportunity to play in the Olympics.

Moultrie’s leadoff single followed by a one-out single from Janie Reed in the sixth represented one of the United States’ rare scoring attempts in the title game on Tuesday. Amanda Chidester lined into an inning-ending double play to end that threat.

Stewart, who started every game at third base, hit a walk-off home run in the against Japan on Monday to cap an undefeated run through pool play and ensure that the United States would be the home team for the rematch with Japan in the gold medal game.

Munro, a catcher, hit a single and scored an insurance run in the fifth inning of the pool play opener against Italy, but her impact was felt the most behind the plate. Munro started five of six games and worked masterfully with the pitching staff led by Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott.

USA pitchers recorded 49 strikeouts and gave up just two runs (one earned) in the 30 innings Munro was behind the plate in the five pool play games — a run in which the United States outscored its opponents 9-2.

Stewart and Munro were both mainstays in the Gators’ starting lineup during UF’s Women’s College World Series championship runs in 2014 and 2015.

This was the fifth time overall softball was played on the Olympic stage and the first time since 2008. Japan beat the United States for gold that year, as well. The United States won the gold medal the first three times (1996, 2000 and 2004).