OKLAHOMA CITY — No matter what happens now, the U.S. softball team can never get back the gold medal it lost in Beijing. But for one night, beating rival Japan sure felt good.

Alissa Haber and Andrea Duran homered as the United States exacted a measure of revenge for its loss in the Olympic gold medal game, defeating Japan, 6-1, last night at the World Cup of Softball.

"It's always good to beat them. It's definitely sweet right now," said left-hander Cat Osterman, who struck out 13 in a four-hitter. "We're not taking it as we just beat the same team we saw in Beijing, but it's always nice to win."

The stakes weren't nearly as high in the rematch, and many of the faces were different, too.

Seven U.S. players retired following the Beijing Games, and Japan has had its fair share of roster turnover, too. Most notably, ace Yukiko Ueno — who has beaten the Americans five times in the last four years — didn't accompany the team to the World Cup.

If anything, the game was a chance for the next generation of American softball stars to make their mark in the rivalry.

"For the young kids, I think it gives them a taste of what the rivalry is like. For the old kids, obviously a little bit of a sweet redemption to some extent," first-year U.S. coach Jay Miller said. "But also, we've got to keep it in perspective because it doesn't mean anything."

Still, there was plenty of emotion. Osterman, who lost the gold medal game, pumped her left fist after striking out Rei Nishiyama to end the game.

The U.S. (4-0), which has yet to seal a spot in tomorrow night's championship game, plays Australia today.

Haber smashed the first pitch thrown by reliever Naho Emoto the opposite way over the left-field wall to put the U.S. ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. As lightning from an approaching storm could be seen in the distance, Duran added a two-run blast later in the inning to extend the lead.

Duran said she took one strike because she was distracted by the lightning.

"It totally froze me," Duran said. "Honestly, I was just like, 'I need to get this at-bat over with.' "

After Duran's homer, the teams were taken off the field for a 53-minute weather delay, and the capacity crowd of 6,196 was asked to leave the seating area to avoid the risk of lightning.

Without Ueno, Japan (1-2) used four pitchers. Starter Mika Someya and Makiko Fujiwara combined to strand four runners in scoring position in the first three innings before the Americans finally broke through in the fourth.

Pinch-runner Chelsea Bramlett raced in to score the game's first run on Ashley Charters' chopper just in front of home plate, diving in head first to beat the tag of catcher Maki Tanigawa.

But the Japanese rallied right back to tie it in the fifth on Rei Nishiyama's sacrifice fly.

That set the stage for Haber, one of 10 rookies on the U.S. roster. She came through with her third extra-base hit in 15 games with the U.S. team. She later added an RBI single and scored on Jenae Leles' grounder.

Earlier yesterday, Natasha Watley hit a grand slam, and Duran and Leles homered as the U.S. trounced Canada, 15-0, in a game halted in the bottom of the fourth by the mercy rule, and Jennifer Yee homered as Canada overcame an early 3-0 deficit to beat Italy, 6-4.