Famous Softball Players - Cat Osterman

Catherine Leigh Osterman was born on April 16, 1983 in Houston, Texas. She played soccer and basketball in her early years until the day she filled in for her Little League softball team as a back-up pitcher. Cat fell in love with the sport and for her eleventh birthday she asked for pitching lessons. Her passion for softball increased and she became a high school and club softball legend.

Cat is a left-hander, and can grab a softball entirely with her fingers rather than have to cradle it in her palm. As a result, she can put above-average spin on the ball and surprise batters as well as anyone has ever done. Cat has six pitches but does not throw her softball as often as her other pitches. In the summer of 2001, after graduating from Cypress Texas Springs High School as the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, she was invited to join USA Softball’s national team. Cat has racked in impressive stats and won a lot of awards over the years. She’s first in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings at 15.4, and is the first softball player to twice appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She has four of the five best seasons for the NCAA’s best strikeout ratio, and was the first of only two NCAA pitchers to register 2,000 plus strikeouts. She won a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and is excited about the 2008 Games in which she will be representing her country.

As a psychology major at the University of Texas, Cat was named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for Fall 2001, Spring 2002 and Spring 2003 semesters. She was also twice named recipient of the V.F. “Doc” Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship, the University of Texas’ highest honor.

On February 15, 2006 Osterman was the first overall pick in the National Pro Fastpitch softball league draft. She was chosen by the Connecticut Brakettes. The Brakettes were formerly known as the Stratford Brakettes of the Amateur Softball Association. Even though Cat had been on their roster for the five seasons before being drafted, she chose not to sign with them, making her a free agent.On December 19,2006, the Rockford Thunder of the NPF announced that they signed Cat to a contract for the 2007 season.