Well, THAT's simple! Why didn't I see that?
The wiki link posted was exactly clear, and as I said, I edited the message several times and STILL did not get it right!
Oh, well...
Suppose #1 is undefeated, and #2 has one loss to #1 in the round robin. #1 wins the semi, and #2 wins the bronze game AND subsequently the gold game. #2 gets the gold medal with a 1-2 record head-to-head against the silver medalist. No, it's not bizarre at all...
At least make it a 3 game series for the gold, like the colleges do. I'd bet that we generate MORE interest, not less (listening, TV folk?).
Since softball games are rarely the prime-time games anyway, and will be on tape delay except possibly for the terminally sleep-deprived (in NA, anyway), TV should have no problem with a series format.
But, then, since there is no olympic softball after this year anyway, what difference does it make?