Softball at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venue	Golden Park
Dates	July 21–30, 1996
Teams	8
Medalists
United States  China  Australia

Women's softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at historic Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Final results for the Softball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics:

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Women's tournament	United States (USA) Laura Berg Gillian Boxx Sheila Cornell Lisa Fernandez Michele Granger Lori Harrigan Dionna Harris Kim Maher Leah O'Brien Dot Richardson Julie Smith Michele Smith Shelly Stokes Danielle Tyler Christa Lee Williams	China (CHN) An Zhongxin Chen Hong He Liping Lei Li Liu Xuqing Liu Yaju Ma Ying Ou Jingbai Tao Hua Wang Lihong Wang Ying Wei Qiang Xu Jian Yan Fang Zhang Chunfang	Australia (AUS) Joanne Brown Kim Cooper Carolyn Crudgington Kerry Dienelt Peta Edebone Tanya Harding Jennifer Holliday Joyce Lester Sally McDermid Francine McRae Haylea Petrie Nicole Richardson Melanie Roche Natalie Ward Brooke Wilkins

Participants

Competition format

Eight teams competed in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consisted of two rounds. The preliminary round followed a round robin format, where each of the teams played all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advanced to a Page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

Group stage

The top four teams advanced to the semifinal round.

Team	W	L	RS	RA	WIN%	GB	Tiebreaker
United States	6	1	37	7	.857	-	-
China	5	2	29	9	.714	1	3 RA vs. AUS/JPN
Australia	5	2	22	11	.714	1	6 RA vs. CHN/JPN
Japan	5	2	24	18	.714	1	10 RA vs. CHN/AUS
Canada	3	4	15	17	.429	3	-
Chinese Taipei	2	5	19	19	.286	4	-
Netherlands	1	6	4	32	.143	5	1–0 vs. PUR
Puerto Rico	1	6	5	44	.143	5	0–1 vs. NED

July 21

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3  United States 2 0 3 0 0 5 10 13 0 WP: Granger (1–0)   LP: Martinez (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E  Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 8 3 WP: Sippel (1–0)   LP: Tu HP (0–1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 6 0  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 WP: Wang L (1–0)   LP: Roche (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 7 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 WP: Takayama (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–1)

July 22

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 4 7 0  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 WP: Harding (1–0)   LP: Han (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 3 – 3 5 1 WP: T Watanabe (1–0)   LP: Wang L (1–1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 4 – 4 4 0 WP: Snelgrove (1–0)   LP: Echevarría (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3  United States 0 5 0 3 1 0 – 9 10 1 WP: Williams (1–0)   LP: Knol (0–1)

July 23

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 1  Canada 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 2 WP: Wang L (2–1)   LP: Sippel (1–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 7 12 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 1 WP: Tu HM (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–2)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1  United States 3 0 0 0 0 3 – 6 10 0 WP: M Smith (1–0)   LP: Kobayashi (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1  Puerto Rico 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2 2 1 WP: Echevarría (1–1)   LP: Wilkins (0–1)

July 24

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4  United States 1 1 2 0 0 0 – 4 5 1 WP: Harrigan (1–0)   LP: Tu HM (1–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 R H E  China 0 5 1 4 0 10 11 0  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 WP: Ma (1–0)   LP: Mize (0–1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 0  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 WP: Holliday (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–3) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0  Japan 1 0 0 3 0 0 – 4 9 1 WP: Takayama (2–0)   LP: Sonnenberg (0–1)

July 25

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  China 2 0 0 3 2 1 – 8 13 1 WP: He (1–0)   LP: Pannen (0–1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 4 0 6 10 11 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 WP: Roche (1–1)   LP: T Watanabe (1–1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Puerto Rico 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0  Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 9 0 – 10 11 1 WP: Tu HM (2–1)   LP: Echevarría (1–2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  United States 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 4 4 1  Canada 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 6 5 WP: Williams (2–0)   LP: Snelgrove (1–1)

July 26

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 1 4 0 2 1 8 12 1  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 WP: Takayama (3–0)   LP: Martinez (0–2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E  United States 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 0  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 2 WP: Harding (2–0)   LP: Fernandez (0–1)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4  Canada 0 0 2 1 0 1 – 4 5 1 WP: Sippel (2–1)   LP: Mels (0–4)   Sv: Debbie Sonnenberg (1) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 2  Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 WP: Wang L (3–1)   LP: Tu HM (1–2)

July 27

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Canada 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 4 0  Australia 2 0 0 0 3 0 – 5 9 3 WP: Roche (2–1)   LP: Snelgrove (1–2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Netherlands 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 8 1  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 WP: Mels (1–4)   LP: Echevarría (1–3)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 0  United States 0 1 0 0 0 2 – 3 8 1 WP: M Smith (2–0)   LP: Wang L (3–2) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Japan 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 5 10 0  Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 WP: Kobayashi (1–1)   LP: Han (0–1)

Medal round

The loser of 1&2 seed game played the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match won the bronze medal while the winner went on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.

	Semifinals					Bronze medal game					Gold medal game
	1	United States	1								1	United States	3
	2	China	0								2	China	1
						2	China	4
						3	Australia	2
	3	Australia	3
	4	Japan	0

Semi finals

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2  United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 0 WP: Fernandez (1-1)   LP: Wang L (3-2)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E  Australia 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 9 0  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 WP: Tanya Harding (3-0)   LP: Takayama (3-1)

Bronze medal match

Winner advanced to gold medal match. Loser won bronze medal.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
China	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	4	5	2
Australia	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	2	2	2
WP: Wang L (4-2)   LP: Roche (2-2)

Gold medal match

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
China	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	4	2
United States	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	4	0
WP: Michele Granger (2-0)   LP: Liu Y (0-1)   Sv: Fernandez (1)

Final team standings

Rank	Team	Games	Wins	Losses
	United States (USA)	9	8	1
	China (CHN)	10	6	4
	Australia (AUS)	9	6	3
4	Japan (JPN)	8	5	3
5	Canada (CAN)	7	3	4
6	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	7	2	5
7	Netherlands (NED)	7	1	6
8	Puerto Rico (PUR)	7	1	6

References

• Official Olympic Report