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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 12:24 p.m., Sunday, June 8, 2008

Olympics: US beats China 7-0 in softball

By JEFF LATZKE
Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — Stacey Nuveman homered and Jennie Finch threw a one-hit shutout as the United States beat China 7-0 today in an exhibition game stopped after five innings because of the run rule.

Nuveman gave the U.S. a 4-0 lead with a three-run shot to left-center field in the second inning, and the Americans tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning off Chinese starter Li Qi.

Finch, who picked up wins in relief after Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott struggled in games the previous days, was dominant from the start. She struck out five and lost her perfect game on a ground single to left field by Li Chun Xia with two outs in the fifth.

The Americans had been tested in a 10-8 victory over a team of National Pro Fastpitch All-Stars on Friday and again when they rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Canada 9-5 Saturday.

The games against Canada and China are the only exhibitions the U.S. will play this year prior to the Olympics in Beijing this August.

Nuveman, who returned to the team after the birth of her first child last June, had been hitting .200 through her first 32 games of the team's nationwide "Bound 4 Beijing" tour, but has returned to her usual slugging form of late.

The 6-foot catcher holds the NCAA career records with 90 home runs and a .947 slugging percentage, and was a member of gold-medal winning U.S. teams in 2000 and 2004.

Nuveman broke out of a 1-for-16 slump with a home run May 23 against an exhibition squad assembled in Salinas, Calif., and that started a current 6-for-9 stretch from the plate.

She singled to start the Americans' fourth-inning rally, and pinch-runner Laura Berg scored on Caitlin Lowe's RBI single. Jessica Mendoza followed with a two-run double to left field to make it 7-0 and give the U.S. the seven-run cushion needed to end the game after five innings.

Lowe was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and Andrea Duran added an RBI single ahead of Nuveman's home run in the second.