In a sport known for breaking them down, baseball has seen another barrier crumble to the ground.
On Friday, Olivia Pichardo became the first female to appear in an NCAA Division I baseball game, suiting up for Brown against Bryant University. Pichardo appeared as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, grounding out to first.
The 19-year-old Queens, New York, native is the female version of Shohei Ohtani, boasting the ability to pitch from the right side and play the outfield.
A baseball player nearly her entire life, Pichardo made Brown’s team as a walk-on in November. While making the team was a dream realized for Pichardo, she hopes to be an example for other female baseball players striving to reach the same goals.
“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, via Brown’s YouTube page. “It’s really paving the way for other girls in the next generation to also have these goals that they want to achieve and, you know, dream big and know that they can do it.”
While Pichardo is the first woman to play in a Division I game, she’s far from the first to play collegiately. According to Baseball For All, this year alone, five more women are playing college ball, including Remi Schaber (Hood College), Rebecca Laire (Dawson Community College), Christina Elsbury (Gallaudet University) and Avery Smith (Holland College).
Pichardo helped female baseball players take a massive step forward on Friday. Only in her freshman season at Brown, Pichardo will seemingly have plenty of opportunities to inspire even more women to pursue the same path.
