BEIJING (AP) Under the lights, the U.S. softball team kept its golden glow.
The Americans, playing at night for the first time since coming to China, hammered three more home runs and remained on track to win a fourth straight Olympic title with an 8-0 win over the Netherlands on Sunday.
Monica Abbott pitched five perfect innings and Crystl Bustos, Jessica Mendoza and Tairia Flowers homered as the too-good-to-be-true U.S. (6-0) squad extended its Olympic winning streak to 20.
After noon starts in their first five games, the Americans had to wait around in the athlete's village before climbing on the bus and heading to Fengtai Field for a 7:30 p.m. start. They didn't mind.
"We're a nighttime team," Bustos said. "That's when we shine, when the lights are on us."
Before the tournament began, the Americans figured to have a tougher time grabbing gold in Beijing than they did four years ago in Athens when they were in a league of their own.
Well, six games in, this one has been just as easy.
The U.S. has now outscored its opponents 44-1, posted five shutouts - four of them in games ended early by the international run-rule - and hit 12 homers, breaking one of the few Olympic records it didn't set in Greece.
There's no telling how many marks they may set before softball says goodbye to the games for at least eight years.
As the Americans prepared to bat for the first time, the stadium announcer said rain was in the forecast and set to arrive at 9 p.m. - about 1½ hours away.
A red, white and blue storm was brewing as well. Once again, the Americans thundered balls to every field. Even their outs were loud.
"They say your best defense is your offense, and that's very true with our team," Abbott said. "All through our lineup, everyone can be a threat in so many ways. We've got speed, power, you name it. It's nice to pitch for them. They score so many runs. We as pitchers don't want to let them down."
The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the first on Bustos' RBI single, and threatened to score more but pitcher Rebecca Soumeru got lucky when Kelly Kretschman and Stacey Nuveman hit shots right at the Dutch outfielders.
Soumeru started the third the same way when Lovieanne Jung lined out leading off. But Flowers followed with the U.S. team's 10th homer. Four-time Olympian Laura Berg dropped a double to left and Natasha Watley brought her home to make it 3-0.
Bustos opened the fourth by ripping her fourth homer in six games over the 220-foot fence in center, a rocket that never got more than 15 feet off the ground. Soumeru tried to throw the ball off the plate, but the beefy Bustos reached across and pounded it out over the fence at Fengtai Field anyway.
It was her 12th career homer in three Olympics, adding to her unchallenged title as softball's pre-eminent power hitter.
The U.S. added two more runs on RBI singles by Jung and Berg.
Mendoza, who just missed a homer in the second, opened the fourth with her fourth homer in the past three games.
Abbott set an NCAA record with 2,440 strikeouts during four All-American seasons at Tennessee. The 6-foot-3 left-hander relies on her rise ball to overpower hitters, and the Dutch had no chance against it.
She retired all 15 batters and got help from Berg, who made a diving catch in the third to rob Petra van Heijst of a hit. Abbott struck out the side in the fifth as the Americans wrapped up the win in just 70 minutes.
The U.S. will conclude round-robin play on Monday against China (2-4), which was upset by Taiwan 2-1 earlier in the day.
The loss eliminated the Chinese from the medal round but for them there would be nothing sweeter than knocking off the Americans, softball's golden standard.
The host nation will be backed by nearly 10,000 screaming countrymen who over the past week have been warming up to a sport many knew little about before the games' first underhanded pitch.
The Chinese still cheer a foul ball with the same gusto as they do a well-struck double into the gap, but they now understand that when the runner makes it all the way around the bases it's time to go crazy.
In other games, Japan (5-1) rallied for four runs in the fifth for a 5-2 win over Venezuela (2-4), and Tanya Harding and Melanie Roche combined on a three-hitter as Australia (4-2) shut out Canada (3-3) 4-0.
The top four teams will advance to the medal round on Wednesday.
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