Cat Osterman begins her third season as assistant softball coach on the hilltop. She handles the pitching staff and contributes to the team’s mental approach.
A native of Houston, Texas, Osterman graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. While at UT, Osterman was a three-time National Player of the Year and four-time All-American. The only softball individual to ever win National Player of the Year honors three times, she helped take the Longhorns to three trips to the Women’s College World Series (2003, 2005 and 2006) while earning USA Softball’s National Player of the Year honor in each of those three seasons. During her redshirt season of 2004, Osterman trained with the USA
National Team as the only collegian and youngest member of the Olympic team that earned a gold medal in Athens. A three-time selection as Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year (2003, 2005 and 2006), she still holds UT career records in victories (136), ERA (0.51), shutouts (85) and no-hitters (20), and she holds the NCAA record for career strikeout ratio per seven innings (14.35). Osterman was a recipient of the NCAA Today’s Top VIII Award in 2006, an honor presented to the top eight senior student-athletes in the country.
Previously, Osterman served as a student assistant coach at UT in 2007 while finishing her undergraduate degree. From there, she moved to DePaul University, where she was assistant coach from 2008 to 2010. She helped lead the Lady Blue Demons to three-straight Big East Championships, two NCAA Regional appearances and a 129-50 record.
Osterman pitched for the USA National Team from 2001 to 2010, appearing in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Team USA took home the gold in 2004 and finished with the silver medal in 2008. In her 10-year career with Team USA, Osterman held a 59-4 record with 0.38 ERA. She struck out an amazing 832 batters in just 425.2 innings of work.
Osterman just completed her her sixth season in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) League. She played for the Rockford Thunder in 2007 and 2009 and the USSSA Pride for the past four seasons. Osterman led the Thunder to the league championship in 2009, earning MVP of the championship series. The very next season, she led the Pride to the 2010 championship. The team split the championship in 2012 but captured the title once again in 2013. Osterman was named to the All-NPF team three times and was named Diamond NPF Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2011 and NPF Pitcher of the Year in 2013. In her six-year career in the NPF, Osterman has earned an 80-33 record with a 0.85 ERA and also has 831 strikeouts in just 525.0 innings pitched.
In February 2013, Osterman was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Osterman resides in Austin, Texas.
