Pressure is on for softball – and its players – to make an Olympic return

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Ace pitcher Lauren Bay Regula last played elite-level softball at the 2008 Olympic Games, when Canada fell just short of a medal. It was also the last time softball was at the Games.

The sport had joined the roster in 1996, but softball and baseball were voted out by the International Olympic Committee in 2005, losing by a single vote. The Beijing Games was their last Olympics hurrah.

Now, however, women's softball and men's baseball are on the cusp of a return to the Games. In early August, the IOC is set to vote on sports to add to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Softball and baseball appear certain to make it back.

But it is only a reprieve for one Olympics – in a country, Japan, that loves and excels at softball and baseball – putting pressure on the sports to prove themselves in the longer term.

The political machinations are casting a spotlight on the Vancouver suburbs, where Surrey is host to the 2016 Women's World Softball Championship. A record 31 countries are at the tournament, which began on July 15 and culminates this weekend.

When softball and baseball lost their Olympics berth, the IOC was looking to include new sports in the Games. Rugby sevens and golf made the grade for this year's Games in Rio de Janeiro.

A decade ago, baseball suffered from the taint of steroid use. Softball, meanwhile, was seen as not being played widely enough around the world – and dominated by only a few countries. The United States, Japan and Australia, from 1996 through 2008, won 11 of the 12 medals awarded in softball.

But softball has evolved. More countries are playing – and the game is more competitive.

It's on display in Surrey, and it's a challenge for Canada, ranked No. 4 in the world. Canada was upended 6-1 by Venezuela on Monday.

Bay Regula, who retired from softball after Beijing, rejoined the national team this year. She pitched in a key victory on Wednesday, 10-0 over Puerto Rico.

On Friday, Bay Regula was on the mound again against China, ranked No. 6 in the world, and Canada won 4-3, avoiding elimination. Canada has to win two games on Saturday and one midday on Sunday to reach the gold-medal game on Sunday evening.

A return to the Olympics would bolster softball, said 34-year-old Bay Regula, from Trail, B.C.

"To train to be an Olympic athlete has a special power," she said. "I would love to see softball get back in."

Canada's challenges on the field in Surrey come after success at last year's Pan American Games, when the Canadian team upset the United States for gold.

At the world championship, lower-ranked countries, such as Mexico, are playing well.

"The game is changing," said Glen Todd, a long-time organizer who led the building of Softball City, where the 2016 world championship is being played. "There are more powers than ever, which is good for the game. People were tired of the U.S. dominating."

Canada has been an important backer of international softball. When softball lost its place in the Olympics, Softball Canada led the push to stage the sport's world championship every two years, rather than every four. Canada backed the idea by hosting the 2012 event in Whitehorse and then this year in Surrey.

The Surrey tournament used an open format for the entry of countries, rather than requiring prequalification. It attracted countries new to softball, such as Ireland and Kenya. There has been an air of camaraderie at Softball City. "This tournament is not big money. It's not big TV rights," spokeswoman Laura Ballance said.

The shot to get back to the Olympics first emerged in 2013, but softball and baseball lost a vote to wrestling. Wrestling had been threatened with expulsion.

The IOC then came up with the idea of allowing sports in on an Olympics-by-Olympics basis. Other new sports for Tokyo in 2020 are expected to be karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.

Gaining a permanent spot will be a challenge. The World Baseball Softball Confederation will have to convince the eventual hosts of the 2024 Olympics that their sport is deserving.

"We'll work to put on a great show in Japan," said Hugh Mitchener, chief executive officer of Softball Canada.