ACOG - News - IBM

(25 July 1996; Day 6)

WANG Lihong: Speed Skater to Speed Pitcher in Softball

In the People's Republic of China, the Olympic softball team is chosen from a talent pool of barely 200 players on eight provincial teams and city teams. The International Softball Federation estimates that China had 330,000 softball players as of 1995. That is a far cry from the United States' total of 33 million players.

With these insurmountable odds, how does China compete in international softball competition? It isn't a question of just competing. China trails only the United States in the chase for the gold medal in Olympic softball, and is the only team to defeat the U.S. team in the last decade.

A big reason for the success of the Chinese is pitcher WANG Lihong. WANG has been a cornerstone of Chinese softball for the last nine years. She was named the best pitcher in both the 1990 Asian Games and 1991 Asian Championships. Now she is leading the Chinese toward a chance at a gold medal.

WANG holds a commanding lead in strikeouts in the Olympic competition with 31. Karen SNELLGROVE (CAN), the lefthander's closest competitor, has only 15 punchouts. WANG owns a 1.19 earned-run average in 17.2 innings of work.

The Chinese hurler pitched in China's first three games of competition. She opened the Olympic Games with a 6-0 shutout of Australia, surrendering two hits and striking out 10. She came back the next day and lost to Japan, 3-0. In that contest, she retired the first 11 batters and held Japan scoreless for awhile, striking out 11 in the first five innings.

The following day, she entered the game against Canada trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, with the bases loaded and nobody out. She worked out of the jam by striking out two hitters in the heart of the Canadian lineup and then coaxing the cleanup hitter to ground out. She allowed just one hit the rest of the way en route to a 2-1 Chinese victory.

One would think a dominating pitcher the likes of WANG has been pitching since she was old enough to pick up a glove. Wrong - WANG actually began playing softball as a teenager.

"I competed in China as a speed skater for a few years," WANG said. "Coach LI Minkuan asked me to play softball one day. I found I had a talent to play the game and enjoyed it."

The Chinese have enjoyed WANG's performance. Along with the Best Pitcher honors she has earned, WANG has compiled an impressive list of statistics. The lefthander compiled a 2-1 record with a 1.90 ERA in the 1994 South Pacific Classic. She notched a 3-2 mark with a 0.35 ERA in the 1990 World Championship, held in the United States at Normal, Illinois. In the 1989 International Cup, she built a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 19 innings.

"We are trying to win a gold medal," said WANG. "We came to win, not to just play softball. We have a very good team and should compete with all the teams."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Thad Dohrn.


Return to Olympic News Menu

Select another day:
Pre July 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 August 1 2 3 4 Post


Olympic Factoid
The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.