These Bombers aren’t from the Bronx

ATHENS, Greece — Even their hair looks strong. They’ve got big, long knotted ropes of it, ponytails down their backs, thick as steel cables. It’s not often you see utter world domination anymore, but the U.S. women’s softball team has offered a rare view of it. Through eight straight shutouts, delirious, shirtless Americans have bobbed in the sun-filled bleachers to “Woolly Bully.”

Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that sour, frail, complaining Russian Svetlana Khorkina doesn’t play softball. It’s one thing to pick a fight with 16-year-old hummingbird gymnast Carly Patterson. I daresay we wouldn’t hear quite so much of Khorkina’s lip if she had to go up against third baseman Crystl Bustos. After watching Bustos drive in a couple of runs against Australia as the Americans completed yet another shutout, 5-0, to advance to the gold medal game, I can cheerfully report that Bustos’ braid is bigger than Khorkina.

You don’t want to mess with Bustos. Or with 33-year-old pitcher Lisa Fernandez, that wad of brunette tucked under her visor, skipping and kicking her red cleats in the dirt, as she sends batters to the chiropractor with her changeup, a wavering apparition of a pitch that goes in more directions before it crosses the plate than a moth. Then there’s Jennie Finch, all 6-foot-1 of her, throwing the heat at 65 miles per hour from her huge windmill windup, a skein of hair flying out behind her like a spear.

Last week, LeBron James ran into Finch at a Nike party and playfully suggested that he could handle her at the plate. Here is Fernandez’ reply. “I thought it was pretty funny that he went there,” Fernandez said. “We went to a Nike party and they had a tape of LeBron playing softball, and he struck out in slow pitch. He needs to start with the T-ball first. Then we’ll talk.”

The Americans’ performance here has been so comprehensively, thoroughly great in every phase of the game that they’re being called, by male sportswriters no less, the female version of the 1927 Yankees. It’s not a ridiculous statement. After all, the effect of a softball hurled from 43 feet at 65 miles per hour is not unlike that of a 90 mph fastball from a mound 60 feet away.

Let’s review just a few of the Americans’ stats in this tournament. Five of their eight games have been one-hitters. In four of them, the “mercy” rule had to be invoked. They have a 0.00 ERA while they’re hitting .344. They’ve outscored opponents, 46-0, with pitchers giving up just 14 hits and 10 walks in 49 innings.

But here is the most impressive number of all. Not only have the American women refused to give up a run in eight games. They’ve only allowed two runners to reach third base in the entire tournament. “The bases are very precious to us,” Fernandez said. “We’re very stingy in allowing people on the bases. Crystl Bustos, the last thing she wants is to see someone standing next to her at third base. That is her base. We take it personal. Same thing at home base. Stacey Nuvemen is not letting anyone get in there without a fight.”

Their victory over Australia on Sunday in the semifinals was a typical outing. Against a power-hitting team that is without doubt the second-best one here, Fernandez pitched a three-hitter. She kept the Aussies guessing with junk. It was also Fernandez who gave the Americans a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the fourth.

You don’t want to fall behind against this group, especially not early in the order. Every American who stepped to the plate from then on must have looked like a huge bronzed version of Athena. In the fifth inning, here came 5-10 shortstop Natasha Whatley, who has 10 infield hits. Aussie pitcher Melanie Roche was so tentative on the mound that Whatley’s bunt froze her completely and she couldn’t make the throw to second. “It’s my job to wreak havoc out there,” Whatley said later.

Now here came 5-9 first baseman Leah O’Brien-Amico, with a single to load the bases. Next up was Bustos, who is 5-8 and about 200 pounds, and who promptly smacked a two-run single. Now here came Fernandez again, with an average of .550 in the tourney. Roche, by now totally unnerved, hit her with a pitch. Up came 6-foot catcher Stacey Nuveman, with a sacrifice fly. Kelley Kretchmer’s homer in the sixth undid the Aussies once and for all. It was their 78th straight win in international play.