One softball drought is over for the United States.And a little over a week before the Olympics begin without softball but with an IOC vote that could change that four years from now in Tokyo, perhaps seeds have taken root for a bigger celebration to come.The United States defeated Japan 7-3 on Sunday in Surrey, British Columbia, in the winner-take-all final game of the World Baseball Softball Confederation World Championship, currently the sports most important international tournament.Team USA beat Japan, its main rival, twice in the event and finished with a 9-0 record.Japan was the two-time defending world champion, beating the United States in 2012 in Canadas Yukon Territory and 2014 in the Netherlands. Counting the Olympic gold it won in 2008, the last Olympics in which softball was contested, Japan arrived in British Columbia having won three of the past four major titles in a sport previously dominated by the United States.It tells the story of the international games past and present that while this was the 10th world championship for the United States, it was the first championship for every player on the American roster.Not only was Team USA winless in the final game of a major tournament since 2010, but it also entered Sunday having played 17 consecutive innings in such games without so much as a lead.It didnt take long to bring that streak to an end.After the first two U.S. batters were retired in the top of the first inning, Jazmyn Jackson doubled to right center and Valerie Arioto drew a full-count two-out walk, the ninth of the tournament for one of the sports most disciplined power hitters. Among the leading home run hitters in college softball this past season at the University of Washington, international rookie Ali Aguilar then kept her swing short enough to go the other way with an outside pitch for a single that scored Jackson.The hit was just the third of the tournament for Aguilar, who was in the lineup primarily because Amanda Chidester, who led Team USA with eight home runs and 17 RBIs, was out with an arm injury sustained a day earlier in a 4-3 semifinal win over Japan (which then beat Canada in the losers bracket Sunday afternoon to earn a rematch in the final).Japan soon paid an even steeper price for its inability to close out Sundays first inning when Michelle Moultrie waited on an off-speed pitch and pulled it for a three-run home run and a 4-0 lead.Unlike 2012, when American hitters couldnt come up with a run in support of Keilani Ricketts, or two years later, when it was Japan that rode a big first inning to victory, momentum belonged to the United States.Japan had a chance to cut the deficit to two runs in the bottom of the second, but Team USA center fielder Haylie McCleneys throw and catcher Aubree Munros positioning got Japans Yuka Ichiguchi at the plate for the final out of the inning.McCleney subsequently put the game away with a three-run home run in the fourth inning.A day after she came within an out of a complete game in the semifinal, Ally Carda started again in the final, but four American pitchers split the workload almost equally.To the degree it is possible from a two-game sample size, the title validates the vision of Team USA coach Ken Eriksen. Now in his sixth year as coach of the national team, much of that time working essentially pro bono in addition to a paying job as head coach at the University of South Florida, Eriksen sought to build a program (largely from scratch) that offered opportunities to college-age talent and still developed a veteran core for an uncertain Olympic future.Consider how the opening runs were scored Sunday. Jackson, who also scored the first run when the United States beat Japan to win a junior world title a year ago, still has two seasons of eligibility at the University of California. Aguilar has another season at Washington. But Arioto and Moultrie have a combined 12 summers of international experience between them.Put another way, when Arioto played her freshman season at Cal, Jackson was in sixth grade.Look ahead to 2020 and the United States could well have a handful of key veterans in their early 30s and the rest of the roster spread throughout their 20s. Exactly what you would expect of an Olympic roster -- but what seemed like anything but a given a few years ago, when a lack of funding and attention made a revolving door seem more likely.There are, of course, dangers in drawing too many conclusions from the wins, just as from the narrow losses in the past two world championships. The U.S. and Japan have split six games this year. Sundays score notwithstanding, their games are almost always close. And Japans roster this time around didnt include pitching ace Yukiko Ueno, who won another domestic pro title last year but, at 35 years old, may finally be ready to stop haunting American dreams.Perhaps it would be wisest to make of the wins in Surrey only that they earned Team USA this title. That should be enough. Jacksons 12 hits, Chidesters power, Aguilars fearlessness and Jessica Moores four wins and 23 strikeouts worth commending solely for what they produced over a week near Vancouver.And yet the celebration after the final out appeared surprisingly muted, handshakes and high fives instead of bear hugs and dog piles. Perhaps it was the product of a game that lacked the drama familiar to the rivalry. Perhaps youth made the accomplishment difficult to grasp in the moment.Perhaps the players let loose later.Or perhaps to them, this was just the first step toward a bigger party in 2020.They did their part to put the United States back on top. Now they will wait and watch the vote from Rio. Clearance Air Max 720 . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Air Max 720 Cheap Wholesale . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. http://www.airmax720outlet.com/ . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. Cheap Air Max 720 Sale .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Air Max 720 Outlet Sale . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007. OXON HILL, Md. -- On the day he was put in charge of baseball in 1992, Bud Selig said his new job was hopefully relatively short term.But if youre asking me what relatively short term means, obviously this morning I dont know, he said.Maintaining power for more than 22 years, Selig oversaw a revolution in baseball that included interleague play, the expansion of the playoffs from four teams to eight and then 10, dividing each league into three divisions with wild cards, instituting video review to aid umpires, revenue sharing to help small-market teams and 20 new big league ballparks.He also presided over the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years, an attempt to use replacement players for striking big leaguers and the unchecked rise and later crackdown on illegal steroids. He was head of baseballs labor policy when owners were found to have conspired against free agents.Seligs imprint was recognized Sunday when the 82-year-old was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Todays Game Era Committee.We were a sport resistant to change, he said. I believe in those years as commissioner, thats the most change in baseball history.Selig became the fifth of the 10 commissioners voted to the Hall, joining Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1920-44), Happy Chandler (1945-51), Ford Frick (1951-65) and Bowie Kuhn (1969-84). Every commissioner who has served at least five years is in Cooperstown.Im happy for him. I think its deserved, said Fay Vincent, the commissioner Selig helped force out. I think that after 94, Bud really got the point very clearly. I think Bud realized in 94 there was no point in trying to test the union anymore.Selig headed the group that purchased the Seattle Pilots in bankruptcy court in 1970 and moved the team to Milwaukee. A protege of Detroit owner John Fetzer, he became chairman of the owners Player Relations Committee in early 1980s and directed strategy at a time owners were found to have colluded against players during three offseasons, leading teams to pay players a $280 million settlement.Assisted by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Selig was appointed to the newly created position of chairman of baseballs executive council two days after Vincents resignation.Even I didnt understand the dimension of the problems we that we faceed at that time, Selig said.ddddddddddddHe repeatedly said he never would become commissioner, but he blocked Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush from taking the job, leading Bush to run for governor of Texas and later president.After presiding over the strike and labor talks that led to an agreement in 1997, Selig finally was elected commissioner in July 1998 and accepted new contracts in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012. He announced in September 2013 that he would retire in January 2015.Revenue rose from about $1.7 billion in 1992 to just under $9 billion in his final season.Bud will go down in history as the No. 1 commissioner that has served baseball, and without question, Peter Ueberroth, baseballs commissioner in the late 1980s, said as Seligs retirement approached.Selig repeatedly said baseball had been stuck with economic rules designed when it was small business in the early-to-mid 20th century.We were living in a system that was archaic, hadnt been changed since what I call the Ebbets Field-Polo Grounds days, he said. There are a lot of small-market clubs that would tell you today they wouldnt be in business.While attendance boomed until the Great Recession and many teams helped start regional television networks, national TV ratings declined for baseball along with most other programming. Losing the 1994 World Series to a 7 1/2-month players strike and widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs before the start of testing with penalties in 2004 were low-points in his tenure.Yes, it was terribly painful, broke my heart, he said of losing the Series. But it served I think as a great lesson, and we took it.Baseballs labor deal announced Wednesday runs through 2021, ensuring 26 years of labor peace since the last strike.Steroids use increased through the 1990s, culminating in offense records that broke the season home run mark of Roger Maris and the career standard of Hank Aaron. Many of the hitters later were found to have used performance-enhancing drugs to build muscle.Steroids were not a baseball problem. Steroids are a societal problem, Selig said. For from a sport that never had a testing program, we came a long ways. 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