411 on the Forty — Part Four: Former Softball All-America named to ESPN’s ‘Greatest All-Time Softball Team’

June 10, 2020June 10, 2020

Cat Osterman is far and away one of college softball's most decorated players. After all, how many players can boast that they earned All-America honors four times and won two Olympic medals? Osterman is the NCAA career leader in no-hitters (6), and the current holder of the Big 12's pitching triple crown, leading the league in career wins, ERA and strikeouts.

On Tuesday night, the fans spoke. They declared Cat Osterman the best left-handed pitcher to ever play the game, as the former Texas standout received 34.7 percent of the fan vote for ESPN's "Greatest All-Time Softball Team." It is a high honor that is well deserved for the 37 year-old Osterman, who most recently showed her devotion to her country by coming out of retirement to serve as a veteran leader for the 2021 USA Olympic Softball team.

Already a two-time Olympian, former Texas pitcher Cat Osterman has received an invitation to play for the 2019 USA Softball Women's National Team (photo courtesy of texassports.com).

The so-called "All-Time Lineup Card" features multiple players from the 2010's era, such as Osterman's Team USA teammates, Aubrey Munro (Florida), and Rachel Garcia (UCLA). Finishing third to Osterman was another member of Team USA in Monica Abbott.

In the write-up on Osterman, ESPN had high praise for the pitcher who guided Texas to three Women's College World Series appearances over her four years on the Forty Acres.

"No one — not Sheryl Swoopes or Jackie Stiles in basketball, not Christine Sinclair in soccer — was so single-handedly responsible for the basic building blocks of winning in a team sport," wrote Graham Hays of ESPN.

Following the announcement of the team, Osterman, obviously thrilled, tweeted, "Always proud to have worn burnt orange".