Brown's Olivia Pichardo becomes first woman on DI NCAA baseball roster
Freshman Olivia Pichardo made Brown University's baseball roster as the first woman named to a Division I NCAA baseball team.
Brown announced the news on Monday after Pichardo made the cut following an open tryout. She's one of 31 players listed on the roster ahead of the spring season. She'll play as a utility player.
"I'm just really glad that we're having more and more female baseball players at the collegiate level, and no matter what division, it's just really good to see this progression," Pichardo said, per Brown.
Her teammates gave her a round of applause when head coach Grant Achilles announced that she'd made the team.
Freshman Olivia Pichardo made Brown University's baseball roster as the first woman named to a Division I NCAA baseball team.
Brown announced the news on Monday after Pichardo made the cut following an open tryout. She's one of 31 players listed on the roster ahead of the spring season. She'll play as a utility player.
Julie Croteau was believed to be the first woman to play for an NCAA baseball team in the post-World War II era when she made the St. Mary's College of Maryland roster in 1989. Since then, multiple women have played on college baseball teams at Division II or below, including eight scheduled to play in the upcoming season, according to Brown. But none of them have played at the NCAA's highest level.
"I'm just really glad that we're having more and more female baseball players at the collegiate level, and no matter what division, it's just really good to see this progression," Pichardo said, per Brown.
Her teammates gave her a round of applause when head coach Grant Achilles announced that she'd made the team.
Per her Brown bio, Pichardo started playing baseball as a Little Leaguer in New York and went on to play at the varsity level in high school in addition to playing for club teams. She made the U.S. Women's National Team roster this year as a pitcher and outfielder and played against Canada in the five-game Friendship Series over the summer.
Achilles said that he was wowed by her workout during the open tryouts in the fall.
"Olivia put together the most complete walk-on tryout I have seen from a player since becoming a head coach," Achilles said.
Pichardo said that Brown players have fully embraced her throughout the process of trying out and making the team.
"Everybody was super welcoming, and I really felt that from my teammates," she said.
Brown opens its season on Feb. 24 against Georgia State.
ANALYSIS
Brown University is not a baseball powerhouse. In fact, it ended the 2022 season ranked as the 249th "best" team in Division 1 baseball. But it is still a Division 1 program and therefore it's a heck of an accomplishment to make the team regardless of your sex. Based on the film and overall response to Pichardo, it seems as though she is truly a legitimate glass ceiling destroyer and not just a novelty like Manon Rheaume was in the NHL. Time will tell if Pichardo is just the first of many or the one and only, but her inclusion on the opening day roster at Brown is an extremely big deal.
If Pichardo is able to produce at even a mediocre level, it will put a lot of pressure on coaches throughout the US to find their own female baseball players as to not appear backwards in this area. First it will be similar schools to Brown, liberal Universities without much pressure to compete in the sport, but eventually someone at a top tier program will decide that there's a spot on their roster for a female player. As I stated in great detail in my book (You're Not Welcome Here: Exclusionary Practices in the Game of Baseball, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble), women have a distinct advantage in breaking through in baseball compared to other sports due to its unique nature of skill wildly overshadowing athleticism and strength. With Division 1 already breaking through, it's only a matter of time before we see professional teams taking chances on female players.