By Riley Zayas
Softball to retire Cat Osterman’s jersey
Softball fans had plenty to cheer about when it was announced that one of the most decorated pitchers in program history, Cat Osterman, would have her No. 8 jersey retired this upcoming season. Osterman will be just the third female student-athlete to have her number retired at UT, and also the first ever in Texas softball history.
It is fitting that the honor goes to Osterman, arguably the greatest player in the history of Texas softball who for the Horns from 2003-06. She won [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]National Player of the Year honors three times, the ESPY Award for best female college athlete twice, and was named a National Fastpich Coaches Association All-American in all four seasons on the Forty Acres. In addition, her impressive strikeouts-per-seven innings ratio of 14.34 remains the highest in NCAA history, and she became the only player in NCAA Div. I history to lead the country in earned run average three times. Her performances propelled the softball team to three Big 12 titles and three trips to the Women’s College World Series.
Her success carried over to her professional career. Osterman drafted first in the National Pro Fastpitch 2006 draft. She played first for the Rockford Thunder, and then the USSSA Pride, winning four league titles during her career. She also was named the league’s top pitcher three different times, including back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014.
Osterman was the youngest player on the 2004 USA Olympic Softball team in Athens, and helped the Americans win the gold medal before returning four years later to Beijing, this time as a leader of a squad that ended up capturing the silver medal. She came out of retirement last year to get a spot on the Olympic team which will compete later this year in Tokyo.
“The news of my upcoming jersey retirement put tears in my eyes,” Osterman said. “I can not thank Chris Del Conte, Chris Plonsky and the University of Texas enough for this honor. It was an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to represent Longhorn Nation as a student-athlete at Texas. It’s mind blowing to think my jersey will now be retired alongside some of the greatest athletes to ever play their sport on the Forty Acres.”
The ceremony will take place ahead of the midweek game March 25 against UT-Arlington.
Softball holds “Meet the Horns” event next Friday
Softball fans also will get a chance to meet the stars of this year’s talented softball team before the season opens in February at the “Meet the Horns” event next Friday. Prior to the women’s basketball team tipping off against Baylor at the Frank Erwin Center, the entire softball team will be in attendance, signing autographs and talking with fans from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Smokey the Cannon and Bevo XV also will be there to pose for photos with fans. In order to access the event, fans must have a ticket to the basketball game, which will grant access to the softball event and the basketball game. The can be found on the concourse, and Bevo and Smokey the Cannon on the north plaza near Gate C.
Led by head coach Mike White, the softball team then will prepare to kick off its season with the annual Texas Classic, which will run from Thursday, Feb. 6 through Sunday, Feb. 9. Texas will face teams like Maryland, Wichita State, Lamar and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Boulware becomes the latest addition to football staff
For more than 23 years, Jay Boulware was watching from a distance, always dreaming he would return to the University of Texas.
That dream of returning to the program to which he had given so much as a player and a coach early in his career became reality this week finally became a reality this past week when head coach Tom Herman named Boulware UT’s new associate head coach for special teams and tight ends coach.
Boulware said he comes back to austin with a goal of winning a national championship.
“I’ve been watching this program from afar since the day I left there in the spring of 1997, and I’ve always had it in my mind that I would like to come back someday and help Texas win a national championship,” Boulware said. “I love everything about The University of Texas.”
Boulware became a Longhorn in 1991, but didn’t see the field until 1992, after redshirting his true freshman season. While in line for the starting job in 1993, his career came to a sudden and abrupt end, when he was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia. He returned as a coach, serving as a student coach then graduate assistant for the next three years.
Boulware comes to Austihn after coaching seven years as the special teams coordinator, and in recent years, running backs and tight ends coach at Oklahoma. He was an integral piece of the Sooners’ success on the ground over the past few seasons, as the Sooners had six 1,000-yard rushers in the past decade. He also helped OU kicker Austin Siebert become OU’s first Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year.
Celeste Taylor claims Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors
Celeste Taylor is starting, shooting threes and adding weekly awards, including this week’s Big 12 Freshman of the Week honor.
UT women’s basketball head coach Karen Aston said the first-year guard from Valley Stream, N.Y., is a high-energy player whose versatility is a real asset for the Longhorns.
“I think she’s starting to understand that there are certain things she brings to the table for our team,” said Aston. “One of those things is a lot of energy. It’s her motor that is most important for this particular team.”
Taylor helped lead the Longhorns to two consecutive victories this past week over Texas Tech and Kansas State, gamnes in which she averaged 11 points per game and hit five three-pointers. She played one of the best games of her young collegiate career Saturday against K-State, scoring 15 points, 12 of which came on a career-high four three-pointers, and swiping seven steals.
Sigsgaard wins Big 12 Player of the Week honor
For the second week in a row the Big 12 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award belongs to a Longhorn, after senior Christian Sigsgaard won his first weekly honor of the season and sixth in his collegiate career, a mark that ties him for the most in Big 12 history.
Sigsgaard displayed great leadership and poise this past week in dual matches, both victories, against Florida and SMU. In his first singles victory of the week, he defeated the nation’s No. 4 player in Florida’s Sam Riffice, 6-1, 6-4, to earn his second straight win over a ranked opponent. He then took down SMU’s Tom Vaise in another singles win, 6-3, 6-3, Saturday in Dallas. The victories brought his singles record to 13-3 this season.
Sigsgaard and the Longhorns, who moved back up to No. 1 in the country this week after the win over Florida, will be at home, hosting the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Their first match is at 11 a.m. Saturday against the Indiana Hoosiers, after which UT will face either Florida State or Vanderbilt at noon Sunday.
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