Athletes - Cat Osterman

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	Athletes - Cat Osterman

Catherine Leigh ("Cat") Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is an American athlete and was one of the pitchers on the Women's Softball Team USA Gold Medal winners at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was born in Houston, Texas and attended Cypress Spring High School in Cypress, Texas from 1997 to 2001; her parents are Gary and Laura Osterman, and her brothers are Craig (born 1986) and Chris (born 1994).

She started playing softball in first grade before quitting to play soccer, but she eventually found her way back to the diamond in fifth grade; she is currently a senior psychology major at the University of Texas at Austin and starting pitcher for the Longhorns. Osterman holds the NCAA Division I career strikeout record with 1,879 strikeouts over her four year career. Osterman has pitched 19 NCAA career no-hitters and 10 NCAA career perfect games.

Cypress Springs High School

On April 4, 2000, Osterman struck 21 batters in a row against Langham Creek High School to record a perfect game at the age of 17. Considering the general equality of talent at the high school level, her feat betters the Major League record for strikeouts in a game shared by Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood at 20; moreover, Osterman collected one more strikeout in two less innings in a performance on par with 1950's Minor League phenom Ron Necciai.

In 2001, she struck out 33 batters in a 14-inning 1-0 shutout over Cy-Fair High School. The performance ranked 10th on the strikeouts-in-a-single-game list, behind:

61, Alicia Holloway; Fairfield High School 0, Woodland High School 1; May 29, 2001; 30 innings
53, DeeDee Weiman; Cerritos Gahr 0, Lakewood St. Joseph 1; 1986; 29 innings
49, Jennifer Deering; Salinsa North Salinas 9, Gilroy 4; 1997; 34 innings
48, Lisa Fernandez
; Lakewood St. Joseph 1, Cerritos Gahr 0; 1986; 29 innings
47; Kristen Sloubar; Van Nuys Montclair Prep 2, Sonta Monica Crossroads 1; May 8-9, 2005; 21 innings
43; Terry Carpenter; Huntington Beach Edison 0, Burbank Burroughs 0; 19xx; 24 innings
43; Jenny Schachtner; Flintridge Prep 2, Westright Tigers 1; June 27-29, 2005; 26 innings
42; Kristy Goodrich; Warren Lordstown OH 6, Bristol OH 2; 1998; 21 innings
40; Michelle Granger; Placentia Valencia 1, La Mirada 0; 1988; 25 innings
35; Lucy Cezarez; Chula Vista Bonita Vista 1, La Mesa Helix 0; 1976; 29 innings

As such, she set a new national record for strikeouts in a game under 20 innings, beating Jenny Stallard's previous record of 31 in 19 innings in 1978; she also set the new national record for strikeouts in a 14-inning game, breaking Michelle Granger's former record of 31 in 1985.

2002: Freshman year

Osterman became the first UT freshman to be named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of February 19, a week in which she tossed two no-hitters (a 3-0 win over Utah on February 13 and a 4-0 win over Southwest Texas on February 15); they were only the third and fourth by a UT freshman, along with Natalie King's two freshman no-hitters in 2001). Her February 13th no-hitter was the first of her NCAA career.

She also threw the first perfect game in UT history in a game against Stephen F. Austin State University on February 26; she proceeded to throw two more perfect games in her freshman season. She struck out 554 batters to set a new NCAA freshman record (which has since been eclipsed by Monica Abbott of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers with 582 in 2004).

She set new UT single-season records for wins (36), innings pitched (304.1), games started (40), shutouts (17), appearances (51), and consecutive innings without giving up an earned-run (79.2 from February 13 to March 13), as well as the UT single-game record for innings-pitched (14) and strikeouts-in-a-game (23) in a March 1 game against Mississippi State University. In a March 20 game against Texas-State, she broke her own UT record for strikeouts-in-a-game with 24 in a 12-inning match. She also tied the UT single-season record for complete games (27).

2003: Sophomore year

Osterman threw four more no-hitters, including another perfect game -- on February 12, March 1, and March 20 -- while setting new UT career records for wins (68), shutouts (35), strikeouts (1,042), and opponents-batting-average (.105). She is so far the only pitcher in Big 12 Conference history to strike out 1,000 batters in only two seasons. She also broke the record for strikeouts-per-game with an average of 14.1 per seven-innings, beating the previous mark of 13.9 by Danielle Henderson of the University of Massachusetts in 1999; she surpassed her own UT single-season record for shutouts with 18, and tied her own shared record for complete games (27). From April 22 to May 22, she went a career-high and UT record 65 consecutive scoreless-innings.

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Athletes - Cat Osterman

Cypress Springs High School

2002: Freshman year

2003: Sophomore year

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