Crystl Irene Bustos (born September 8, 1977), also known as The Big Bruiser, is an American

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

player at the

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

position although on the roster she is a

designated player A designated player may refer to: *Designated Player Rule, a Major League Soccer rule for players over the salary cap *Designated player (NBA), a National Basketball Association exemption for contract extensions * Designated player (softball), a so ...

. She is a two-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist. She holds the world record for home runs during an Olympic series, with six.

Career

Bustos, a

Mexican American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...

, was born in

Canyon Country, California Canyon Country is a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of Santa Clarita, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies along the Santa Clara River between the Sierra Pelona Mountains and the San Gabriel Mount ...

(currently a part of

Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populo ...

). She began her career playing softball at Canyon Country Little League and attended Palm Beach Community College. She is a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic softball team, which won the silver medal after losing to Japan in the gold-medal game, the first loss for the U.S. women in 23 straight Olympic games. Her accomplishments also include two World Cup Championships (2006 and 2007), three Pan American gold medals (1999, 2003 and 2007), and a gold medal at the

2006 ISF World Championship The 2006 ISF Women's World Championship was held from August 27 to September 5, 2006 in Beijing, China. For the sixth consecutive time, the team from the United States won the title, with a 3-0 victory over Japan. The first four teams qualified ...

s. She has also played for the NPF

Akron Racers The Akron Racers were a women's softball team based in Akron, Ohio. In 2018 they moved to Cleveland and were renamed the Cleveland Comets. The team was started by Joey Arietta in 1999 to participate in the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). Fro ...

, and was the Most Valuable Player in the WPSL for the Orlando Wahoos in 1998. Bustos announced that she would retire from international competition after the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. Bustos was named 2008 USA Softball Player of the Year. She became the

field manager In baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of ...

for the

in October 2009, but elected to return to the playing field for the Racers in 2010.

Statistics

References

External links

Crystl Bustos
at SoftballPerformance.com (archived January 21, 2009) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bustos, Crystl 1977 births Living people American softball players Softball players from California American sportspeople of Mexican descent Olympic gold medalists for the United States in softball Olympic silver medalists for the United States in softball Olympic softball players for the United States Softball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Softball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Softball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Palm Beach State Panthers softball players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics People from Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California Sportspeople from Santa Clarita, California Akron Racers players Softball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Softball players at the 2003 Pan American Games Softball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in softball