Relief pitcher Miu Goto stranded five runners over the final two innings, and Mana Atsumi singled in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth as Japan beat Mexico 3-2 on Thursday to improve to 2-0 in the Tokyo Olympic softball tournament.
Japan manager Reika Utsugi left ace Yukiko Ueno on the mound in the seventh to celebrate her 39th birthday with what she hoped would be a complete-game victory, but the right-hander surrendered the tying run and left the game with two on and no outs.
"I was about done going into the last inning, but because it was my birthday, the skipper kept me in. It's really unfortunate I was unable to close it out, but the way everyone fought back, this win makes me extremely happy," said Ueno, who pitched Japan to the gold medal in the last Olympic softball tournament in 2008.