Former UA star Jennie Finch goes through her delivery during a Team USA practice Sunday in Beijing.

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BEIJING — They are articulate. They are diplomatic. And they are absolutely devastated.

They are players on the U.S. softball team, very likely the most gifted team ever to gather on one field and they are here to defend their three gold medals. But they are also defending their sport as they prepare to play in possibly the last Olympic softball games ever.

That's because, in July 2005, some knuckleheads on the International Olympic Committee voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Summer Games in London.

One theory is that, worried about steroid use in baseball, the IOC thought it would be easier to just drop America's pastime, and softball simply got caught up in the mess. In fact, U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth told the Los Angeles Times that he was told by at least four IOC members that they mistakenly voted against softball when they thought they were voting against baseball. (Needing 53 votes to remain in the games, the final tally was 52-52 with one abstention.)

Some have suggested that it is purely an anti-American move aimed at U.S. policy on Iraq, a backlash that ensnared America's game.

But the most popular recent line of thinking is that the U.S. women are just too good.

No question about that. While the rest of the world is starting to catch up, the U.S. team is not unlike like the men's basketball Dream Team of 1992. But while the IOC had no problem allowing everyone else to catch up to the Americans in basketball, softball is not so lucky.

All of which leaves the U.S. softball team in the strange position of having to apologize for its greatness.

"There's been a lot of improvement internationally," pitcher Cat Osterman said. "The games are getting closer and closer, and by no means are we absolutely running over everybody."

It has also left the Americans in the unusual position of speaking out as activists for their sport at a time when most athletes of other sports are thinking of little more than their next event.

"As a young girl, I dreamt of being a USA athlete and being on that podium and seeing our flag raised high," said former Arizona Wildcats star pitcher Jennie Finch, 27, an Olympic gold medalist in 2004, member of the National Pro Fastpitch Chicago Bandits and mother of 2-year-old son Ace with husband Casey Daigle, a Triple-A pitcher in the Minnesota Twins organization.

"Softball has given me everything. It's been my life. It's how I met my husband. It has meant so much to me, and that's why we need it to stay in, to mean so much to other young women all over the world."

The only way to achieve that, said Jessica Mendoza, is not just to speak out but to act out.

"It's a combination of trying to get out and globally show how great and beautiful a softball is in a young girl's hand," said Mendoza, an outfielder. "Our goal is to show what women can do — not just us as Americans but all participating countries."

Mendoza, 27, a graduate of Stanford, is poised to become the next president of the Women's Sports Foundation after the Olympics. Four players — Mendoza, Stacey Nuveman, Vicky Galindo and Lauren Lappin — were among the 130 international athletes protesting the violence in Darfur in a letter to world leaders asking them for an Olympic truce in Sudan.

These are women who care not just about saving their sport but saving the world. But first things first.

"Obviously, we're disappointed. We're devastated by the decision," said Nuveman, a catcher from UCLA. "But now it's our job as ambassadors of this game to put on a tremendous tournament, to play the best we can."

The IOC's next general assembly meets in February in Turin, Italy. At that time, at least one-third of the 115 IOC members would need to make a motion for a new vote. At least half would then have to vote in favor of that, and a majority vote would be required to reinstate softball in 2016.

The women are encouraged by the committee's stated desire to expand women's sports. Then they are in the odd position of hoping the rest of the world rises up and at least proves capable of beating the United States.

And maybe, just maybe, a committee member or two will be impressed by their passion.