Cat Osterman - Longhorn and Olympian
The Texas Legacy Sports Network (TLSN) presents the history of Longhorn Sports in a podcast format, featuring 10 episodes per year. The podcasts share the stories of individuals who have shaped the Longhorn brand. Each episode includes oral history, photos, and text, capturing the multifaceted experiences of a Longhorn brand architect. Softball legend and celebrated Longhorn athlete Cat Osterman joined Chris Doelle of "Fresh Media Matters" to recount her journey with the Longhorns and her Olympic saga.
Cat’s story is sponsored by
John Carsey is a former NIT Longhorn National champion basketball player under Coach Abe Lemons- Email is jcarsey@mbfc.com
The oral history podcast is denoted in the black rectangle below.
Osterman graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2007 and the University of Missouri with a master’s degree in educational and counseling psychology with a concentration in positive coaching in 2015
Cat Osterman pitched for the Longhorns from 2002-2006. She red-shirted in 2004 to join the USA Olympic team returning to Texas softball in 2005.
She is a 4-time All-American and 2-time medal-winning Olympian.
She is also the only individual to win USA Softball’s National Player of the Year three times.
Cat still holds the 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). She finished her UT career with a 136-25 overall record and is second all-time in NCAA Division I career strikeouts with 2,265. 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.
In 2004, Cat Osterman was part of the victorious USA women's softball team that secured the gold medal at the Olympics. She was the only collegian and youngest member of the Olympic softball team, In 2008 Cat helped her team win the Silver medal. Osterman is recognized as the #3 Greatest College Softball Player. In 2020 Cat returned to the Olympic softball forum to win another silver medal for the USA.
At Texas she was an instrumental part of three trips to the Women’s College World Series in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
Osterman took a red-shirt year off from Longhorn softball in 2004 to train with the USA team.
After graduating Cat spent 3 season as an assistant softball coach at St. Edwards and at Texas State.
Cat’s professional Softball career
Osterman played 8 years in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) League. She played for the Rockford Thunder in 2007 and 2009 and the USSSA Pride for six seasons.
Osterman was named to the All-NPF team six times and was named Diamond NPF Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2011 and NPF Pitcher of the Year in 2013 and 2014. In eight seasons in the NPF, Osterman captured four league titles.
On February 18, 2013, Cat Osterman was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, an honor she shared with UT's former Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.
In 2016, she was inducted into the World of Little League® Hall of Excellence. As of that year, she was only the fourth woman to receive this honor and the first to be recognized for her achievements in softball.
. Osterman and her husband, Joey Ashley, along with his daughter, Bracken, reside in San Antonio.
Cat Osterman Pitcher 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
Cat Osterman 2003 Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
Cat Osterman 2005– Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
Honda Sports Award
Cat Osterman 2006 Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
Honda Sports Award
Texas softball pitcher cat Osterman struck out seven university of Nevada Las Vegas batters to become the NCAA career strikeout record holder. Osterman who passed the previous mark of 1773 strikeouts early in her senior season finish your Longhorn career with 2265 strikeouts. In her Texas career which finished at the 2006 women's College World Series Osterman one 136 games and struck out 2.04 batters per inning in 1105 2/3 innings pitched.