BLACKTOWN, Australia (AP) -- Crystl Bustos has been Dot Richardson's patient, her protege and her replacement at shortstop for the U.S. softball team.

 Now Bustos has done something her mentor never did: homer twice in one Olympic game.

 Bustos' bat helped the Americans beat Cuba 3-0 on Monday (Sunday night EDT) and extend their winning streak to 112 games.

 "Crystl Bustos is a hitting machine," U.S. pitcher and third baseman Lisa Fernandez said. "The gifts that she has, I've never seen someone like that before."

 A day after the Americans opened the tournament with three homers to back the first solo no-hitter in the sport's brief Olympic history, Bustos and Sheila Douty hit consecutive homers in the second inning.

 Bustos added another in the fourth to give the United States (2-0) an insurance run, giving her three so far in the games. The record for the round-robin stage is four, and Bustos has five games to play.

 "I'm not here to break records," she said, sounding like Mark McGwire during his pursuit of Roger Maris' home run record. "I'm just here to hit the ball hard. If it happens, it happens."

 Danielle Henderson, the only member of the U.S. rotation who wasn't with the gold-medal team in Atlanta, struck out seven in five-plus innings while allowing two hits and a walk. But she also had a wild pitch and two throwing errors.

 Christa Williams came on with a runner on in the sixth and struck out five of the last six batters.

 Asked how she would pitch to Bustos, Fernandez said, "Very carefully." And that's what Cuba (0-2) did, giving Bustos nothing to hit in her third at-bat, when she struck out swinging at a bad pitch.

 "Once she learns that, she'll be a complete hitter," U.S. coach Ralph Raymond said. "She'll be a Ted Williams in this game."

 It's been a spectacular debut for a player who refused all invitations to try out for the national team after she was snubbed by the junior team as an 18-year-old because, she said, she wore her hat backward.

 "The U.S. team has a certain image. And if you don't fit that image ... ," she said, not finishing the thought.

 She went to junior college, then to the Akron Racers of the Women's Professional Softball League when it was formed in 1997. In 1998, Bustos tore a knee ligament sliding into third base midway through the WPSL season.

 And who should come out of the stands to tend to her but Richardson, the U.S. Olympic team shortstop and an orthopedic surgeon.

 "She came out to see one of our games," Bustos said. "They said, 'Dot's coming in to see you.' It was pretty cool."

 Bustos played out the season before having surgery, winning the league's MVP. In 1999, when the International Softball Federation changed its rules to allow professionals, Bustos decided it was time.

 "I guess I hold a grudge. When you're young, you don't look at the whole big picture," she said. "As I got older, I put that aside."

 Now she shares a room on the road with Richardson, the telegenic spokeswoman for the sport, who moved from shortstop to second base to make room in the lineup for Bustos' bat.

 And that has made the U.S. team even more formidable. The American got three homers in the opener, but the offensive power was lost in the hoopla over Lori Harrigan's no-hitter.

 "With the offensive production, and what this team can do in the pitcher's circle," Fernandez said, "this team is going to be tough to beat."

 The game started about 40 minutes late because a traffic jam delayed the Japanese team on its way to the stadium for the first game of the doubleheader.