Olivia Picciardo becomes first woman to play in NCAA Division 1 baseball game

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

left-handed batting utility player From Queens, New York, he pitched first pitch at Murray Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island, at bat with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and hit the first ground ball.

Picchardo is an outfielder and pitcher for the United States Women’s National Baseball Team, who won their only game last summer against Team Canada, 5-3. She walked with Brown in the fall, and her coach Grant Achilles told her she earned a spot on her roster in November.

Pichardo played club ball in the New York area and last year completed an internship with the New York Mets’ amateur scouting division. Before he enrolled at Brown University, he played basketball and volleyball at Garden School.

About half a dozen women are known to have played baseball in a junior college or lower four-year school.of the NCAA said On that website, Pichardo is one of eight women on the college baseball roster this season, but she’s the only one playing at the Division 1 level.