The USA Softball Women's National Team is back on the world stage at the Tokyo Olympics. The 2020 Games are Team USA's fifth Olympic appearance and first since 2008, after the sport was left out of the London 2012 Summer Olympics and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Team USA is off to a hot start in their campaign for softball gold. They're undefeated in opening-round play; they defeated Italy 2-0, Canada 1-0, and Mexico 2-0. The United States will next play No. 8 ranked Australia (1-2) in their fourth opening-round contest on Saturday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium.
The host country Japan is the defending gold medalist after they upset the United States in the final in Beijing 13 years ago. Before that upset in 2008, the United States had been dominant on the international level, taking home the gold in 1996 (Atlanta), 2000 (Sydney) and 2004 (Athens).
Here's how to watch USA Softball's fourth game against Australia:
USA Softball vs. Australia
When: 9 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 24 | Where: Yokohama StadiumTV channel: NBC Sports Network | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)Odds: USA TBD; Australia TBD (via William Hill Sportsbook)The softball tournament is set so that each team plays each of the other five teams in a single round-robin tournament. The top two teams (based on record) will compete for the gold medal, while the bronze medal game will be between the third- and fourth-place teams. Because of Tokyo's state of emergency due to COVID-19, there will be no fans at the games.
The full softball schedule for the Olympics can be found here. Here is Team USA's schedule:
Team USA Softball schedule
Tuesday, July 20
Italy
USA 2, Italy 0
Wednesday, July 21
Canada
USA 1, Canada 0
Saturday, July 24
Mexico
USA 2, Mexico 0
Saturday, July 24
Australia
9 p.m.
Sunday, July 25
Japan
9 p.m.
Tuesday, July 27
Bronze medal game
12 a.m.
Tuesday, July 27
Gold medal game
7 a.m.
Olympic softball tournament gold medal odds
The No. 1-ranked United States and No. 2 Japan are the favorites for gold in this year's six-team Olympic field. The two teams have faced each other in the final of every World Championship dating back to 2002. Team USA hold the overall advantage over Japan with a 5-2 record. Here are the odds entering the tournament via William Hill Sportsbook.
USA
-200
Japan
+225
Canada
+1200
Mexico
+2500
Australia
+3300
Italy
+8000
