Jessica Mendoza (left) poses with fans earlier in the U.S. national softball team's pre-Olympic tour. She is one of 10 holdovers from the 2004 squad.

Photos courtesy of USA Softball

From left: Natasha Watley, Jennie Finch, Monica Abbott and Andrea Duran are among the members of the U.S. softball team that will play Thursday in Salem.

Four months ago, Virginia Tech made national news when it upset the U.S. national softball team.

The Olympians haven't lost since.

"It was a good gut check for us," Jennie Finch, the losing pitcher in that 1-0 game, said in a recent phone interview. "It was a ... good learning experience.

"We knew that we ... needed to improve, and I think we've done that."

The U.S. team, which will play at Kiwanis Field in Salem on Thursday, has won 40 straight games since that defeat in Oklahoma City.

Tech snapped the U.S. team's 185-game winning streak on its pre-Olympic tours; the squad's last tour loss had been in May 1996.

"For our team, it was just kind of eye-opening," said Cat Osterman, who will be the starting pitcher Thursday against a team of area college stars. "We hadn't really had a game where we'd been tested and where we needed to get our emotions going, so it was good for us."

"It was definitely a good wake-up call that showed us some things that we need to work on, things that we need to be prepared for," said Monica Abbott, who pitched in relief against Tech. "It's definitely good to have close games and really see what our team's made of."

Angela Tincher, who threw a no-hitter for Tech in the March 26 upset, wound up being named the national college player of the year. She had auditioned at the Olympic Selection Camp last September but didn't make the roster.

"It's not like she's a chump pitcher," Osterman said. "She threw an amazing game."

The loss to Tech was only the 18th game on this year's tour, which began in February. The squad will carry a 57-1 mark into the tour's penultimate game Thursday.

"This team has progressed a lot since [losing to Tech] and in my eyes is a different team than they were back then," U.S. coach Mike Candrea said. "In March, we were kind of in the infant stage of our preparation.

"Part of the process is handling the ups and downs, and I think you can learn from those. And I think this team has."

The U.S. will be seeking its fourth straight Olympic gold medal next month in Beijing. It has won its six games this month by a combined score of 87-2.

"We are a better team now [than in March]," outfielder Jessica Mendoza said. "Tincher pitched a great game. ... Virginia Tech the team definitely beat us. If we had played another team that day, that time, they wouldn't have. But at the same time, if we play Virginia Tech now, it's a different ballgame.

"We're more solidified. At that point when we played Virginia Tech, our final cuts hadn't been made yet."

The U.S. had 18 players on its roster when it faced Tech. Two days after that game, USA Softball named 15 players to the Olympic team and made the other three alternates.

The 15 players include 10 who won gold at the 2004 Olympics, including Finch, Osterman and Mendoza. The squad includes 10 of the 12 players who saw action in the loss to Tech.

In June, the Olympians had to rally to beat the National Pro Fastpitch All-Stars and the Canadian national team. On Tuesday, they rallied to beat NPF's Akron Racers. But most games have not been nail-biters. Since the Tech loss, the U.S. has won all but seven of its 40 games by at least six runs.

The Olympians said even lopsided wins can be good preparation for Beijing.

"We pretend it's either Japan or Australia or Canada in that other dugout every time we step out on the field," Finch said.

Since the Tech loss, the U.S. team has scored in double digits in 27 games and has shut out 32 foes.

"Every pitch to us is a 0-0 ballgame: 'We're in the bottom of the 12th and there's a runner on second base. We need to hit that girl in.' That's how we approach at-bats," Abbott said. "On the mound, we say, 'Bases loaded, semifinal game. We're in the Olympics right now.'

"We prepare ourselves mentally on this tour so that ... in August, we've already played those scenarios out in our head so many times."

The team also holds practices and intrasquad scrimmages to stay sharp.

Salem will be the 45th stop on the grueling tour. Last Friday, for example, the team played in Springfield, Mo. Two days later, there was a game in Stratford, Conn. On Tuesday, the team played in Akron.

"You wake up, you don't really know where you're at," Mendoza said.

While getting back on the bus every few days isn't fun, playing in front of adoring fans is.

"There's so many young girls that look up to you," Mendoza said. "This is the future of the sport. You see it in the eyes of thousands all over the country."

All 4,000 tickets for Thursday's game have been sold. The game is scheduled to last six or seven innings, followed by a postgame autograph session.

"The tour allows us to be able to reach out to fans," Osterman said. "Kids in Virginia haven't seen us play live a lot, so it's fun to ... go to different cities and see different fans and put smiles on their faces and give them something to shoot for."