Japan ended USA's softball gold medal hopes with a lucky double play that resembled a trip drill interception in football

• Japan defeated Team USA 2-0 in the softball gold medal game on Tuesday.
• The US had a chance to come back with two on in the sixth inning, but a double play ended the rally.
• Japan caught a break when a line drive bounced off an infielder's arm and into a teammate's glove.

Team USA's softball gold medal hopes were dashed by an unlucky bounce.

Japan defeated the US 2-0 in the softball final on Tuesday with a bizarre inning-ending double play in the sixth inning.

The US had runners on first and second with one out, and a line drive by American infielder Amanda Chidester bounced off the arm of Japanese infielder Yu Yamamoto and into the glove of Mana Atsumi for the second out. Atsumi then immediately threw to second base to nab Michelle Moultrie for the third out.

American outfielder Janie Reed made an impressive play of her own in the top of the seventh inning when she jumped over the wall to take a two-run home run away from Japanese hitter Yamato Fujita and hold the lead at two.

But in the bottom of the seventh, the last three US batters went down in order, with Delaney Spaulding popping up behind home plate for the final out.

The US had a chance to score as early as the first inning when Reed hit a one-out triple but was thrown out at home on an attempt to score on a Japan passed ball.

Japan's runs came in the fourth and fifth innings. Mana Atsumi had a run-scoring infield hit in the fourth, and Fujita lined an RBI single off Monica Abbott in the fifth.

With the win, Japan defends its gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was the last Olympics to have softball as a featured event. Japan also defeated Team USA by a score of 2-1 in the game.