Cat Osterman
Catherine Leigh Osterman is an American former softball player and currently the general manager for the Texas Volts of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. Osterman pitched on the United States women's national softball team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 2008 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
She was a collegiate four-time All-American and six-time professional All-Star. She completed her college eligibility in 2006 at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a starting pitcher for the Longhorns since 2002. Osterman holds the Big 12 Conference pitching Triple Crown for her career wins, ERA, and strikeouts, as well as shutouts, no-hitters, WHIP, and perfect games; she also holds the NCAA Division I record for strikeout ratio.
In the National Pro Fastpitch, Osterman was drafted first overall and is the career leader in strikeout ratio and no-hitters. She is also one of NCAA's five pitchers to strikeout 1,000 batters with 100 wins, an ERA of under 1.00, and averaging double digit strikeouts. She was a member of the independent "This Is Us" team. In May 2020, she joined and eventually won the inaugural championship in the Athletes Unlimited Softball league as the top individual points leader. Osterman was also named No. 3 Greatest College Softball Player and the No. 1 pitcher in NCAA history.
Early life
She started playing softball in first grade before quitting to play soccer and basketball. Osterman found her way back to the diamond in fifth grade, when she was filling in as a backup pitcher for a little league team.Osterman was born in Houston, Texas to parents Gary and Laura Osterman. Her younger brothers are Craig and Chris. She attended Cypress Springs High School in Cypress, Texas from 1997 to 2001, where she set several records on the school's softball team.
In 2001, she struck out 33 batters in a 14-inning 1–0 shutout over Cy-Fair High School. The performance ranked 16th on the list of strikeouts in a single game. As such, she set a national record for strikeouts in a game less than 20 innings, beating Jenny Stallard's previous record of 31 in 19 innings in 1988; she also set a national record for strikeouts in a 14-inning game, breaking Michele Granger's former record of 31 in 1985.
University of Texas
2002: Freshman year
Osterman was named a National Fastpitch Coaches' Association Second Team All-American. She was also named Big 12 Conference First Team, Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. She broke and set UT single-season records for wins, innings pitched, games started, shutouts, strikeouts, strikeout ratio and appearances. Currently only her inning pitched and games started remain top season records from this year. Her freshman ERA was and is a top-5 school record. Osterman also set the UT single-game record for innings-pitched and single game strikeouts. She also tied the UT single-season record for complete games.Osterman debuted on February 6, tossing six shutout innings, allowing two hits and fanning 11 of the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders. In a March 20 no-decision against the Texas State Bobcats, she struck out 24 in over 10-innings for a career best. That game also was and is a top-5 NCAA record for combined strikeouts at 34, which she shares with Nicole Neuerburg and tied Osterman fourth for an individual pitcher's total in a single game all-time.
Osterman became the first UT freshman to be named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week, for the week of February 19, in which she threw two no-hitters. The first, a 3–0 win over the Utah Utes on February 13 and then a 4–0 win over the Texas State Bobcats on February 15. They were only the third and fourth no-hitters by a UT freshman, and Osterman became only the second Longhorn pitcher to accomplish the feat, along with Natalie King in 2001. She also threw the first perfect game in UT history in a game against Stephen F. Austin State Lumberjacks on February 26. She proceeded to throw two more in her freshman season to match and set two all-time NCAA Freshman Class records for season no-hitters and perfect games, the latter record has since been surpassed.
2003: Sophomore year
Osterman repeated honors as an All-American, now a First Team selection, as well as Big 12 "Pitcher" and "Female Athlete" of The Year. She also earned her first USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Osterman threw 4 no-hitters and a perfect game, while breaking her own UT records for ERA, shutouts and strikeout ratio, of which she also led the NCAA in, except shutouts; the strikeout ratio was a new NCAA season record. She also tied her own shared record for complete games and posted career records in wins, shutouts, strikeouts, and opponents-batting-average.From April 22 – May 22, she pitched a career high and UT record 65 consecutive scoreless innings. The streak began with a win against the Texas A&M Aggies and was broken in a 3–2 win over the ULL Ragin' Cajuns; the streak ran over 12 games and 11 wins and included 115 strikeouts, 16 hits and 9 walks. Osterman is so far the second pitcher in NCAA history to strike out 1,000 batters in only two seasons and in that very same game on May 22, during the Women's College World Series vs. the ULL Ragin' Cajuns, she struck out 11 to reach the milestone. Osterman also is noted for just needing over 500 innings pitched to get into the club, the fewest of any NCAA Division I pitcher.
With that win, Osterman and the Longhorns the next day advanced to meet the California Golden Bears, whom Osterman shutout with 17 strikeouts to tie Lisa Ishikawa's WCWS record for a single game performance. In a doubleheader on the 25, the Longhorns lost to the UCLA Bruins in back-to-back games and were eliminated. Osterman was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts.
2004: XXVIII Olympiad
Osterman redshirted from UT to participate with fellow college softball pitcher Jennie Finch in the Olympic Games in Athens.Aiming for Athens
Osterman went undefeated in 24 appearances during the USA Softball National Team's 53-game schedule. On February 20, she struck out 9 batters in four perfect innings and combined with Finch for a no-hitter. On May 17, she struck out 7 of 9 batters over three innings, after which Finch struck out the final six batters in a row to combine for a perfect game and defeat the Sonic Stars, 10–0. On July 10, she struck out 13 batters over 5-innings for another no-hitter, this time missing perfection on a lone error by first-baseman Stacey Nuveman in a 16–0 win over the Fort Worth All-Stars.Olympic Games
Osterman picked up two wins and a save in the Olympiad. She followed Finch and Lori Harrigan of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas by striking out the final two batters in Team USA's 7–0 victory over Italy on August 14; she gave up one hit and struck out 11 batters over 8-innings in Team USA's 3–0 victory over Japan on August 16; and she gave up one hit and four walks while striking out 10 batters over 6-innings in Team USA's 3–0 victory over Chinese Taipei on August 20. Her 23 strikeouts led Team USA.Return to the University of Texas
2005: Junior year
Osterman received her second First Team All-American citation and repeated honors from the Big 12 and USA Softball. She also added the Honda Sports Award for softball that year as well. Osterman was named the 2005 Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation. She also topped her previous UT single-season records for ERA, strikeouts, strikeout ratio, shutouts, opponents batting average and complete games. The opponents BA remains the school record and Osterman again led the NCAA in ERA and strikeout ratio in addition; the ratio was another new all-time record. Finally, she set Big 12 records in ERA, strikeouts and opponents batting average, of which only the strikeouts has been surpassed. She finished the season at third place on the all-time NCAA single-season strikeout list.Osterman threw 6 no-hitters and three more perfect games while setting a career best WHIP. Osterman was and is still the only pitcher to have two three perfect game seasons, including 2002. On February 27, Osterman combined with Anjelica Selden of the UCLA Bruins to strike out 31 batters in an 8-inning win for the Longhorns. She also struck out 20 or more batters in four separate games, one of which came on March 17 vs. the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats; Osterman struck out 23 in a 10-inning shutout. The game tied her combination strikeouts record of 34, this time with Alicia Hollowell.
Beginning on March 4, the Longhorn posted a career best 24.2 consecutive hitless innings when she surrendered a first-inning hit to the Evansville Purple Aces to open a three-game series before shutting them down for the rest of the game. The next day, Osterman threw the final 1.2 innings by striking out all batters faced in an eventual win for the Aces. On March 9, Osterman struck out her 1,200th batter to tie Lisa Ishikawa of Northwestern University for 10th place on the NCAA all-time strikeout list; the victory was also her sixth career perfect game. On March 11, she moved past Ishikawa and passed Jocelyn Forest of the University of California, Berkeley to take ninth place with a second consecutive no-hitter against the UTEP Miners. Finally, on March 14, Osterman came on in relief vs. the UCLA Bruins and retired the first five batters before the streak ended with a sixth-inning leadoff single. Overall, Osterman allowed only two walks and struck out 64 batters in four wins over 5 games during the streak.
On March 15, she reached 1,229 to surpass Amanda Renfro of Texas Tech for eighth place; on March 17, she passed Shawn Andaya of Texas A&M to take seventh place. On March 23, she struck out her 1,291st batter, passing Sarah Dawson of the University of Louisiana at Monroe for sixth place. On March 25, Osterman became the sixth NCAA Division I pitcher to strikeout 1,300 batters. On April 6, she passed Danielle Henderson for fifth place on the NCAA all-time strikeout list; on April 10, she struck out 7 in 3.1 innings to surpass Britni Sneed for fourth place. On April 13, she passed Nicole Myers to take third place; on April 16, she struck out 13 in a 3–2 win over the University of Missouri to become the third member of the 1,400-strikeout club. Later she would again whiff 24 to match her own school record vs. the Texas Tech Red Raiders and along with Erin Crawford combined for another 31 strikeouts on April 26. On May 12, she crested the 1,500-strikeout plateau; on June 3, she broke the 1,600-strikeout mark.
On June 2, Osterman opened her WCWS by matching her shared record with 17 strikeouts vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide. The team eventually lost to the UCLA Bruins on June 5, who in turn lost to the eventual champions the Michigan Wolverines, to whom the Longhorns had also lost to earlier in the tournament. Osterman and Alicia Hollowell set a new WCWS record for combined strikeouts at 30 in their 11-inning battle; Osterman was named All-Tournament.