Olivia Pichardo becomes first woman to play a NCAA Division 1 baseball game.

Brown freshman Olivia Pichardo became the first woman to appear in a Division I baseball game when she pinch hit in a 10-1 loss to Bryant last Friday.

The left-handed batting utility player from Queens, New York, went to plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and grounded out to first on the first pitch at Murray Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.

Pichardo was an outfielder and pitcher on the USA Baseball Women’s National Team that won three of five against Team Canada in its only games last summer. She walked on at Brown in the fall, and coach Grant Achilles told her she earned a roster spot in November.

Pichardo played club ball in the New York area and last year completed an internship in the New York Mets’ amateur scouting department. She played basketball and volleyball at the Garden School before attending Brown.

About a half-dozen women are known to have played baseball at junior colleges or lower-division four-year schools. The NCAA said on its website that Pichardo is one of eight women that is on a collegiate baseball roster this season, but she is the only one playing at the Division 1 level.

Picture courtesy of Brown Athletics