Baseball/Softball - Team United States

General
The US team is the dominant force in softball. They won the first three Olympic gold medals from 1996 to 2004, before their run was ended by a shock loss to Japan in the final of the 2008 Games in Beijing, the last Games to feature softball.

At the world championships they have won gold or silver on all but one occasion since 1970, including seven consecutive titles from 1986 to 2010. Their run was broken by Japan who won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2014, before the US resumed normal service and took home the title at the two most recent editions in 2016 and 2018. The US and Japan have contested all seven world championship finals this century, with the US team prevailing on five occasions in that time.

The two rivals regularly battle for supremacy at other major tournaments. The US team lost to Japan in the final of the two most recent editions of the USA Softball-governed World Cup in 2016 and 2017, but were triumphant ahead of their Japanese rivals at the USA Softball International Cup in both 2018 and 2019.

At continental level the US team have won nine out of 11 Pan American Games gold medals, including at the most recent edition in Lima in 2019.