BEIJING — On a hot, hazy morning, the U.S. softball team sweated like never before.

This seemingly unbeatable team that produced one rout after another as if off an assembly line was pushed to the edge Wednesday — a 4-1 victory over Japan that went to extra innings.

The Americans scored four runs in the ninth, with Crystl Bustos hitting a three-run homer. The victory extended the Americans' Olympic winning streak to 22 in a sport that won't be back for the 2012 London Games and whose future is uncertain.

Now, the U.S. (8-0) is one victory shy of a fourth consecutive gold medal, and Japan could be back for that one Thursday. The Japanese were to play Australia later Wednesday, with the winner meeting the Americans and the loser getting bronze.

The score was tied after seven innings, forcing the international tiebreaker in the eighth in which teams begin their at-bats with a runner at second.

Despite having first base open, Japan pitched to Bustos. Softball's most fearsome hitter responded with her fifth homer of these games, nearly sending the ball out of the stadium.

Monica Abbott pitched eight shutout innings for the U.S. Behind Abbott, the U.S. team had beaten Japan 7-0 in round-robin play. That game was one of five shortened games by the Americans in the preliminaries.

At beach volleyball, U.S. men Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser earned a trip to the gold-medal match by beating a duo from Georgia. They'll play a Brazilian tandem on Friday. Also, BMX cycling made its Olympic debut, with all four Americans advancing. Mike Day won the time trial in each of his heats, while Kyle Bennett dislocated his left shoulder but is expected to be OK.

A day earlier, Americans got another glimpse on the podium of gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin and an introduction to freestyle gold medalist wrestler Henry Cejudo.

The son of illegal immigrants from Mexico, Cejudo was 4 when he last saw his dad. His mom raised six kids and often struggled to make ends meet. The family moved more times than anyone remembers.

He became a national champ at 17, then defied conventional wisdom by blowing off college to study nothing but wrestling. Now he's the world's best in the 55-kilogram division, the youngest American ever to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal.

"Anybody can do it," he said. "It's just a matter of seeing it, believing it and just working at it, and achieving it."

Cejudo's gold and Johnson and Liukin finishing 1-2 in the balance beam were among the highlights for the U.S. delegation at the Olympics on Tuesday. Another gold medal came in the 100-meter hurdles, but it wasn't from Lolo Jones.

Jones was leading the pack, then hit the second-to-last hurdle and wound up seventh. Gold instead went to Dawn Harper, who grabbed the last spot on the American squad at trials.

"This is a kid nobody knew," said her coach, Bob Kersee. "Now she's an Olympic gold medalist. It's breathtaking."

The first of 11 medals up for grabs Wednesday was the women's 10-kilometer open-water swim. The event, making its Olympic debut, was won by Russia's Larisa Ilchenko in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 27.7 seconds.

She was followed by Britons Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten. Natalie du Toit, the South African amputee who removed her prosthetic left leg before diving in, finished 16th.

Track and field

Sanya Richards was on the medals stand and she wasn't happy about it. She didn't like the color: bronze.

The favorite in the women's 400 meters, Richards led in the stretch but faded at the end, ruining what would've been a great comeback from an illness that cost her most of 2007. Britain's Christine Ohuruogu won, with Jamaica's Shericka Williams taking silver.

"I feel so betrayed by my body once again," said Richards, adding that her hamstring started tightening in the last 80 meters.

In other medal events, Russia's Andrey Silnov won the men's high jump, Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi won the men's 1,500 meters and Estonia's Gerd Kanter won men's discus.

Gymnastics

Johnson and Liukin went 1-2 in the all-around also, but it was the other way around. In fact, Johnson came into the balance beam finals with three silvers.

While Johnson finally got her gold, Liukin's fifth medal of these games matched the most ever for an American female gymnast at a single Olympics. Mary Lou Retton did it in 1984 and Shannon Miller in 1992.

The United States got its only men's individual medal when Jonathan Horton took silver on high bar.

Also, China's Lu Chunlong won the men's trampoline.

Women's basketball

Not that there was much doubt, but the U.S. women are headed back to the Final Four of this tournament.

Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Americans on their latest rout, a 104-60 victory over South Korea. The Americans have made the medal round in every Olympics they've entered, and have won 31 straight games since losing in the 1992 semifinals.

The Americans will play Becky Hammon and Russia in the semifinals Thursday night. Russia rallied to beat Spain 84-65 Tuesday night. China plays Australia in the other semifinal.

Baseball

Despite losing its opener, losing one key player to a gruesome injury and seeing another key player get hurt, the U.S. is headed to the medal round.

The Americans advanced with a 4-2 victory over Taiwan, powered by John Gall's go-ahead homer and a solid outing by pitcher Brandon Knight. The final prelim test comes Wednesday night against medal favorite Japan. The semifinals start Friday.

South Korea and Cuba are advancing, too.