Posted: 8/12/2009

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — As USA Softball Women's National Team rookie Jenae Leles (Sacramento, Calif.) approached her teammates at home plate after hitting a three-run home run at the KFC World Cup of Softball presented by Six Flags, she got that feeling that young athletes dream about.

But the handmade signs sprinkled across the at capacity stands of the Amateur Softball Association of America's (ASA) Hall of Fame Stadium as she crossed the plate reminded Leles that the dream is different than it used to be. For every one poster supporting Team USA, there were five reminding the softball world of one date: 2016, the next time the sport could reenter the Olympic program after being eliminated from the 2012 program years ago.

"It's hard to not think about the Olympics when you're playing at this level. It is devastating because that is what I dreamed about growing up, playing in the Olympics," Leles said. "I know that it was a lot of young girls' dream to play softball further than college and into the Olympics. I think we do need it to get it back so the young girls can pursue their dreams. We need to get it back for them."

The thoughts are more present than ever as the more than 9 million softball players around the world-men, women, boys and girls who play both fast and slow pitch-prepare for an International Olympic Committee vote on Aug. 13 that will narrow down a list of seven possible sports for inclusion in the 2016 Games to only two. In contention with softball are baseball, golf, karate, squash, roller sports and rugby sports.

"I think every softball player out here is thinking about 2016. That's the date to think about right now," rookie Ashley Hansen (Chandler, Az.) said at the World Cup. "I'm really optimistic about it. We deserve to be in there. We have the people, the ambassadors of the sport to really represent us well. Back Softball is a good program to really get this going."

Softball was taken out of the 2012 Olympic Games with a 2005 vote - and it needed only one more to stay in. "We need those International Olympic Committee members to vote us back in where we belong," said Olympic gold and silver medalist Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.).

The International Softball Federation (ISF) started the international Back Softball campaign to show the world why softball should be back in the Games. Team Japan has the Back Softball logo on all team apparel including the jerseys worn at World Cup while players from Australia, Canada, Italy, Netherlands and the USA all wore Back Softball temporary tattoos while playing.

"The whole Back Softball campaign is going on right now so you can go on that Web site and kind of read about it and see what's going on. Just keep supporting us," 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.) said in a podcast to fans. "We're all kind of hoping that it gets back in. We have a pretty good shot so just stay updated and hopefully we'll be celebrating (Aug. 13)."

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Michele Smith of the USA joined Danielle Stewart of Australia and Saskia Kosterink of the Netherlands even spoke to fans about Back Softball in a presentation on the field during the World Cup. Stewart also making a presentation at the Canada Cup in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

"You know, you don't have to be six-four. You don't have to be 200 pounds," Finch said. "We have all different shapes and sizes. The sport tests so many athletic abilities, from hand-eye coordination, to speed, to agility, to quickness. We're finally at the pinnacle, we've finally been established. Please don't take this away."

The Olympic Games are the premier event for softball, a sport that has grown since joining the program in 1996.

"IOC Members appreciate that the Olympic Games would be the absolute pinnacle of our international competition structure; the whole softball calendar would peak every quadrennial with the Olympic Games," ISF President Don Porter said. "While I cannot comment on other sports, I can tell you that the Olympic Games would not be just another competition in an over-crowded calendar for softball. For millions of softball players around the world the Olympic Games would be the greatest honor and we guarantee that the world's best softball athletes would all commit to performing at the Olympic Games."

Among the numerous reasons is that softball has a strong following for reinstatement has never had one doping violation since entering the Olympic Games in 1996. But there are other reasons as well including the impact that softball as on women's athletics, especially in countries where opportunities are few and far between. Many countries in the Middle East and Africa are joining the ISF and sending teams to international competitions.

"Women's softball adds a fabulous dimension to the Olympic Games," said three-time Olympic Winter Games medalist Angela Ruggiero of USA Hockey. "Countless female athletes compete at the very highest level of international competition, fulfilling Olympic ideals and showcasing their unique sport to the world. It opened the eyes of young girls everywhere to the beauty of the game and the multi-faceted skills each player brings with her."

The sport has also grown not only on the international level but at lower levels as well.

"We play a great game of softball and it's been great to watch our sport grow, especially at the grass-roots levels," Finch said. "You see how many young girls are playing softball all across the country and across the world. It's exciting to see how it has grown and it's exciting for me to be a part of it."

But for Finch, some of the most exciting life moments have been wearing the Team USA uniform at the Games.

One little girl dressed in a Cat Osterman jersey at the World Cup gripped a pink sign that said "Every Softball Player Needs a Dream - 2016" as she watched Osterman and her American teammates play Japan. The 10 rookies on the 2009 USA Softball Women's National Team need the 2016 dream too.

"I was with the junior program so ever since that (the Olympics) have kind of been in the back of my head," Hansen said. "2012 would have been the perfect year, the perfect age for me. But I'm still optimistic towards 2016."

Thursday could mark the end of the Olympic dream for millions but international softball will continue no matter the outcome of the vote.

"The more and more I play, the more and more I think about it. I thought when softball was taken out of the Olympics I wasn't going to be around for 2016," rookie Alissa Haber (Newark, Calif.) said. "But just being out here playing and seeing all these older players that still continued playing even though they don't have college teams to play for -- they still play for the pro leagues, so I know there are opportunities out there for me."

The 2010 ISF Women's World Championship will be held July 16-26 at the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City. Softball will also be included in the 2011 Pan American Games as well as dozens of other events like the Canada Cup, Japan Cup and World Cup.

"Softball will go on no matter what," said Olympic Champion Osterman, who was the losing pitcher in the Gold Medal Game at the 2008 Olympic Games. But the Olympic Games will always be the event so many dreamed of.