Brown University baseball player Olivia Pichardo notched another milestone in her trailblazing run with the Bears on Friday, becoming the first woman to play in a Division I baseball game.
The 18-year-old freshman utility player from Queens, N.Y., grounded out in a ninth-inning pinch-hitting appearance against Bryant.
The development came just several months after Pichardo similarly made history as the first woman to make a varsity baseball roster in November. She made the team as a walk-on, earning praise from manager Grant Achilles, who called Pichardo's tryout "the most complete" he'd ever seen from a walk-on.
On Friday, Achilles said Pichardo had set an example that all players should be given fair consideration based on their talent and hard work.
"I hope it shows people that if a player is talented enough to be given the opportunity that they should be judged solely on their baseball abilities," he said. "No other factor should play into that. And Liv is an example of that."
Upon making the team, Pichardo said it was a "surreal moment," according to a Brown news release published in November.
“It was definitely a surreal moment for me because it’s something that I’ve wanted since eighth grade,” Pichardo said. “It’s kind of crazy to know that I’m living out my dream right now and my ideal college experience that I’ve always wanted, so that’s really cool.”
Pichardo was one of an estimated eight women playing college baseball this spring, but she was the only one in Division-I.
She has played for USA Baseball's Women's National Team, and played varsity baseball at Garden School in the Jackson Heights area of Queens. Off the field, she interned in the Mets amateur scouting department.
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