Olympic return for 

softball hinges on MLB

Summary of a much larger article at ESPNW by Ramona Shelburne. CLICK HERE for the full story.

Softball was dropped from the Olympics when it failed to garner a majority of the 105 votes cast by the IOC. The final vote: 52-52 with one abstention was heartbreakingly close. One vote cost softball a spot.

Baseball also was dropped, largely because Major League Baseball owners refuse to allow their players to compete.

Now it is being reported that neither softball nor baseball is getting back onto the Olympic program until major league baseball decides it's willing to create a 10-day break in its schedule to allow its players to compete in the Olympics -- as the NHL does with hockey and the NBA and WNBA with basketball.

Softball's fate is tied to baseball, so the two sports need to present a united front in their effort to re-enter the Olympic program.

The leaders of the Olympic movement care about the same things major league baseball owners do: profits, popularity, corporate sponsorships and television rights fees and ratings.

Jennie Finch (above in USA uniform) also is aggressively working for softball's reinstated at the Olympics.