Olivia Pichardo becomes first woman to play in Division 1 baseball game
— With Temecula’s Kelsie Whitmore helping pave the way for women playing at higher levels of baseball and becoming the first female to play in the Atlantic League, which is associated with Major League Baseball, Brown University’s Olivia Pichardo is following quickly behind.
With a pinch-hit appearance late in Brown’s contest against Bryant Friday, March 17, Pichardo made history as the first woman to appear in a Division I baseball game.
Pichardo, a freshman from Queens, New York, was added to the team roster in the fall as a walk-on after impressing in a tryout. Listed on the team roster as a utility player, she wasted no time at the plate, swinging at the first pitch and putting the ball in play toward first base. The Bears would go on to lose the game, 10-1.
Like Whitmore, Pichardo has played for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, a feat she accomplished just before joining the Brown roster. According to Baseball For All, a group that helps empower girls to believe in themselves and to keep playing the game they love, Pichardo is one of eight women on a collegiate baseball roster in 2023, but she’s the only one at the DI level.
After the game, Pichardo said she wants more girls to know it is possible for them to play baseball.
“I just hope that young girls can watch and see that this is possible; that it’s not just a dream but it is a tangible goal they can have,” she said, according to the team website. “I really hope that there is a whole new wave and generation of girls that come around and try to make it as far as I have, and further in baseball.”
“Kelsie Whitmore has been an inspiration for me for a long time,” Pichardo said. “She was the first female baseball player I had ever heard of and ever since, I have been following her journey.”
The Brown University freshman had the chance to play on the same team as Whitmore this past season on the USA Baseball Women’s National Team.
“I am very proud of Olivia’s continuous courage to be herself and compete in this game,” says Whitmore. “It inspires me on my end more than she thinks.”
Whitmore is currently in her off-season training mode, continuing to do what she can to get better and prepare for this upcoming season. “I’m also taking advantage of the time I get to spend with friends and family, while taking care of baseball business,” she added.
After the historic game, Brown coach Grant Achilles told ESPN that he hoped Pichardo’s debut with the team shows people that the only factor that is important to play NCAA Division I baseball is whether a player is talented enough to get the opportunity.
“They should be judged solely on their baseball abilities,” he said. “Liv is an example of that.”
Achilles added that while Pichardo has put “all the work and effort” into making the team, the support she has received from her teammates has also been invaluable.
“Her teammates are a special group to be able to both realize how historic this moment is but also to hold her accountable as a teammate to our standard as a baseball player,” he said. “I think that’s been the most beautiful part of it for me is that she is a teammate.”
After becoming the first woman to appear in a Division 1 baseball game,, the helmet Pichardo wore is heading to Cooperstown, New York. The helmet will become part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection, which also houses numerous items of equipment from Kelsie Whitmore’s journey as well as many other women in baseball. Fans can follow the action from Pichardo’s season online at www.brownbears.com/sports/baseball.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
