The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas-Ex Cat Osterman selected to 2019 USA Softball National Team
01.07.2019 | Softball
Former UT pitching legend is one of 18 players to make the prestigious Red, White & Blue roster
AUSTIN, Texas – Former Texas softball standout and two-time U.S. Olympic medalist Cat Osterman is one of 18 athletes selected to the 2019 USA Softball Women's National Team (WNT) according to a Monday announcement by the organization.
Chosen by members of the Women's National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC), the selected athletes will compete in select tournaments/invitational events before a final 15-player roster for the Pan American Games is eventually finalized.
Every member of the 2019 roster has previously competed for the Red, White and Blue either as a member of the WNT or Junior Women's National Team (JWNT). Highlighting the roster are two Olympians, while 13 members return from the 2018 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Championship roster that won gold and also qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Collegiately, 11 NCAA Division I universities have student-athletes on the 2019 training team roster – Florida leads with four followed by UCLA with three, California and Oklahoma with two, while Alabama, Arizona, LSU, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington are each represented by one student-athlete.
Announced in fall of 2018, head coach Ken Eriksen will lead the Red, White and Blue in their quest to remain the No. 1 team in the world. The complete coaching staff and list of National Team events, including exhibition games, will be released at a later date.
During a decorated career on the Forty Acres, Osterman, the three-time USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year, four-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American and two-time ESPY Award winner for Best Female College Athlete put up a staggering career record of 136-25 with a 0.51 ERA and 2,265 strikeouts while helping the Longhorns to three Women's College World Series appearances. Osterman still holds the NCAA record for highest career strikeout-per-seven-inning ratio at 14.34, remains the only player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in ERA on three occasions and managed 20 no-hitters and seven perfect games while at Texas.
Drafted No. 1 overall in the 2006 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Draft, Osterman went on to tremendous pro success over an eight-year career with the Rockford Thunder and USSSA Pride. She led the Thunder to the league title in 2009 and captured three more Cowles Cup championships with the Pride in 2010, 2013 and 2014. Osterman was named All-NPF on six occasions and the NPF's Pitcher of the Year three times (2011, 2013, 2014).
On an international level, Osterman won gold as the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Softball Team in Athens in 2004 and then took silver four years later in Beijing.
Most recently, Osterman has been serving as an associate head coach on the softball coaching staff at Texas State in San Marcos, Texas.
