BEIJING, Aug 6: Baseball and softball are in their final innings as Olympic sports at Beijing, but they are going down swinging.

Both sports were voted out of the Games line-up by the International Olympic Committee and will not be staged at London in 2012, although each seeks a return for the 2016 Olympics in Tokyo, Madrid, Chicago or Rio de Janeiro.

“We’re looking at Beijing as a world-class stage to prove we belong,” US star pitcher Jennie Finch said. “We’re not looking to be eliminated from the Games. We’re hoping to be back for 2016.”Reinstatement will not be easy. Baseball and softball will compete with golf, rugby sevens, karate, squash and roller sports to prove worthy of inclusion in the Olympic line-up.

“I’m somewhat optimistic,” International Softball Federation president Don Porter said.

Baseball and softball are each governed globally by Americans, with Porter guiding softball and Harvey Schiller serving as president of the International Baseball Federation.

Major League Baseball has refused to halt its season for the Olympics, instead staging its own event — the World Baseball Classic — to profit from an event similar to tournaments basketball and ice hockey stage at the Olympics.

That and doping issues surrounding stars in the US league gave the American pastime a black eye, but the lack of a clock made the sport tough for telecasters due to the possibility of games lasting several extra innings.

Schiller pushed through a controversial tie-breaker rule last month that would put runners on base to start the 11th inning or later and allow teams to open from anywhere in their batting order to make the game television friendly.

“The IOC president and others made it clear of the requirement to end games in a timely manner,” Schiller said.

“We strive to bring baseball back to the Olympic programme and the Beijing Olympic Games are our last opportunity to collectively impress IOC members on the field.

“We must demonstrate to the International Olympic Committee that not only does our game belong alongside the other great sports of the world, but our sport is manageable from a television and operational standpoint.”

US women have won every softball gold and even though federation officials are making a push to boost softball’s exposure in Africa and the Middle East, US domination has hurt, American slugger Crystal Bustos said.

“There are people voting who don’t understand the sport,” she said. “I think some countries are like, ‘We’re never going to be like that.’”

Softball was ousted by the IOC 52-52 in 2005 and lost a reinstatement vote 47-43 in 2006. But US pitcher Cat Osterman, who would be 33 in 2016, has not lost hope.

“If we put on the best show of Olympic softball you’ve ever seen, they will say, ‘There’s no way this sport can’t stay as part of the Olympics,’” she said.

—AFP