Under the Olympic softball playoff system, the U.S. advances to the gold medal game while Japan still has a chance to play for gold if it can defeat the winner of the semifinal between Australia and Canada later Wednesday.

Japan, viewed as having the best chance to upset the U.S. going into the tournament, did not exactly demonstrate that in the teams' first meeting last week, a 7-0 loss in which the U.S. scored four times before the first out.

Japan came out considerably stronger Wednesday behind the pitcher of their ace Yukiko Ueno, who had struck out 18 in three previous wins with an earned run average of 1.11.

Ueno retired the first six American batters and allowed just two hits through four innings. Lowe led off the top of the fourth with a single down the leftfield line but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double and Ueno struck out Mendoza and Bustos, the No. 3 and 4 hitters, to end the inning.

The U.S. managed one more hit in the fifth, a single by Andrea Duran, who reached second on a fielders choice. But Duran and her team were stranded again when Ueno struck out Jung to end the inning.

The U.S. had come into the eight-team tournament in the strange position of having to defend their dominance, one theory as to why the International Olympic Committee voted to eliminate softball, along with baseball, as an Olympic sport in 2012 and maybe beyond.

In Athens, the Americans set a new standard for dominance, outscoring its opponents 55-1 and setting 18 new Olympic records en route to the gold medal.

The team in Beijing was looking every bit as dominant headed into the semifinals with Japan, setting a new home run record with 13 in seven games and outscoring its opponents 53-1 while extending its winning streak to 19 consecutive games.