Houston Sports - Cat Osterman

Cat Osterman

Born: April 16, 1983

Sport: Softball (136-25 college record, 95-24 pro record, 4-time Big 12 Player of the Year, 4-time All American, 6-time All-Star, 3-time Olympic medalist - Gold in 2004, Silver in 2008, Silver in 2020, Hall of Fame)

This week marked the end of the NCAA Women's Softball season, and for the first time in their history the University of Texas was crowned National Champions after defeating Texas Tech.  I was actually surprised that this was their first title, as they've fielded some impressive teams over the years.  One of their school's greatest players, in fact, pitched several times against my own school while I was attending.  In recognition of her contribution to the Longhorns program and their new championship hardware, this week we will turn the spotlight to Houston's own Cat Osterman, one of the most storied pitchers in the history of women's softball.

Cypress Springs High School, home of Cat Osterman from 1997-2001

Born Catherine Leigh Osterman in the spring of 1983 on the northwest side of town, young Cat got her nickname while on a team with several girls with the same name.  Although the name stuck, the game almost didn't.  Quitting softball after just a taste of action in elementary school in order to focus on soccer and basketball, she eventually came back to the game to fill in as a backup little league pitcher in 5th grade.  By the time she made it to high school Cat was a rising star, with her best game being a 14-inning, 33 strike out performance in a 1-0 victory against rival Cy-Fair High School.  After starting all four years, numerous college programs were scouting Osterman.  But the University of Texas had long held a special place in her heart and she chose to become a Longhorn in 2002.  As soon as she arrived in Austin, Cat began to rewrite the record book while also becoming the first softball player to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  As a freshman she won conference honors as Pitcher of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and First Team All-Conference, while also becoming a Second Team All-American and setting school season records for wins, innings pitched, games started, strikeouts, strikeout ratio, and shutouts.  She was the first Longhorn freshman to be named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after throwing two shutouts in three days (the second of which was against my Southwest Texas State Bobcats while I was attending school there), and had the school's first, second, and third perfect games all before completing her first year of classes.  Cat's sophomore year was even better, however, as she was recognized as a First Team All-American in addition to receiving the conference Pitcher and Female Athlete of the Year honors.  Her dominance in setting or breaking school records (some of which were already her own) in ERA, strikeouts, and strikeout ratio, coupled with a 65-inning scoreless streak that coincided with her surpassing 1,000 career strikeouts in fewer than 500 innings pitched, earned her the 2003 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award.  Although UT was ultimately knocked out of the College World Series by UCLA, Osterman earned All-Tournament honors.

Despite not reaching the pinnacle of the college tournament during her first two seasons Cat Osterman decided to redshirt the 2004 season, not playing all year in order to join Team USA as they trained for the Olympic Games in Athens.  Cat was the only college player selected and youngest member of the team, but still led the team in strikeouts with 23 as she recorded two wins and a save during the seven-game Olympic tournament.  Team USA won gold, scoring 41 runs without allowing any.  Osterman headed back to UT as a champion, and picked up exactly where she'd left off.  Setting unreal records, she earned all of the NCAA, Big 12, and USA Softball awards she'd earned as a sophomore, but also added the Honda Sports Award given to the nation's top female athlete in any major sport as well as the Women's Sports Federation's 2005 Sportswoman of the Year award.  Once again, however, the UCLA Bruins knocked out the Longhorns when they reached the College World Series.  Osterman entered her senior season as one of only three Division I pitchers to eclipse 1,400 strikeouts in their career, and once again filled her trophy case with the same set of team, conference, and national awards, minus the Sportswoman of the Year.  She set the all-time record for career strikeouts on February 25, 2006, and the following week became the first pitcher to ever reach the 1,800 strikeout plateau, and then proceeded to become the founding member of each 100 strikeout interval all the way up to 2,200.  Her college career ended at the hands of UCLA, as each of her previous two seasons had, but she left the field as the all-time leader in strikeouts (2,265) and strikeout ratio (14.35 per 9 innings).  While the first record has been eclipsed the second still stands, as does her records of leading the nation in ERA three times and being named Player of the Year three times.  After her senior year, Osterman was awarded the NCAA Top VIII Award, given to the year's top eight athletes nationwide (male or female).

With a collegiate resume like hers, it was no wonder that Cat Osterman was the first selection in the 2006 National Pro Fastpitch draft, but she never came to an agreement to sign with the team who selected her and instead chose to play for the Rockford Thunder.  When not on the field, Osterman worked on various collegiate coaching staffs and made her broadcasting debut as a color commentator for the league all-star and championship games, as well as calling a few televised college softball games, including the 2007 game during which Monica Abbott overtook her own career strikeout record.  She completed her bachelor's degree in psychology one year after finishing her final year of playing eligibility, and even followed that up with a master's degree in educational and counseling psychology in 2015.  As a professional player, Osterman continued to perform well during her rookie season by setting a league record for strikeout ratio and throwing her first professional no-hitter.  Over eight professional seasons, she led her teams to four championships and one split title, and was named a league All-Star six times.  In 2008 she once again represented the USA at the Olympics, this time in Beijing.  In her 100th game as a member of the US Women's Softball team, Osterman threw just the second no-hitter in Olympics history during a 3-0 victory over Australia.  Unfortunately, despite having already defeated Japan twice during the tournament, the Americans were unsuccessful at defending their gold medal as Osterman gave up her first-ever Olympic runs in a 3-1 loss to the Japanese squad in the final game.  She did not participate in the 2012 Olympics as softball was removed from the program, but was named as part of the 2004 Gold Medal team to the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame, and the following year was named to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.  One year after she retired from professional softball in 2015, Osterman was honored as just the fourth female to be added to the Little League Hall of Excellence.  Despite having caused my school more than a few headaches during her playing career, Osterman joined the Texas State Bobcats coaching staff in 2015 and one year later got married to a high school golf coach from nearby New Braunfels.  When softball was added to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics schedule, Osterman announced a comeback 12 years after her last Olympic game.  Playing competitive softball again from 2018-20, she made the national team as their oldest player despite complications related to the delay caused by the outbreak of Covid-19.  Team USA ultimately made it to the gold medal game, which Osterman started at the age of 38 without allowing a run, but once again they were defeated by Japan and settled for a silver medal.  It was the last game of Osterman's playing career and she was honored the following year with induction into the USA Softball Hall of Fame.  Today, however, while she celebrates the victory her alma mater finally claimed on the national stage, Cat Osterman is also beginning yet another new challenge as the head coach of the Volts - one of four teams in the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League.  After their very first two days of play, the Volts are the only undefeated team at 2-0, and if they imitate their legendary head coach you can be sure there will be plenty more wins and records in their future.

Note: Any trademarks or copyrights that may exist for entities referenced on this page are the property of their holders.  I claim no ownership and make no representation, nor do I receive any compensation for their use as this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only.  Special thanks to Google Earth, which makes historical aerial photography available.