Olivia Pichardo is officially entered into the transfer portal. The first female pitcher in college baseball history wants to join a powerhouse college softball program for her final season of eligibility.
She, to my knowledge, would be the first athlete to ever play both sports on the Division-I level.
It would be incredible if Pichardo can make a tangible impact for a college softball team next season. Especially considering her background in the sport. Or, rather, lack thereof!
Who is Olivia Pichardo?
As a native of Queens, New York, Pichardo never played softball as a kid. Only baseball. Her dominance — both at the plate and on the mound — allowed her to play for one of the top travel baseball organizations in the northeast. She also played on the varsity high school team as a seventh-grader.
Olivia Pichardo pitched for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team in 2022. Team Canada never stood a chance.
She was best known for her filthy off-speed pitches. Other Division-1 commits never knew what was coming.
Despite her talent on the bump and at the dish, Pichardo did not receive an offer to play college baseball. She had to make history on her own terms and enrolled at Brown University as a regular student.
If that in itself was not impressive enough, she walked-on to the baseball program as a freshman. Head coach Grant Achilles called it “the most complete walk-on tryout I have seen from a player” in his career.
Pichardo was not the first female to play college baseball. Nearly 20 different women had played college baseball at the time. None of them played D-1. She was the first.
College baseball —> College softball !
Not only did Pichardo make history by making the team, she made history as the first woman to record an at-bat in a Division-I game in 2023. And then she made even more history as the first woman to throw a pitch in a Division-I game at the end of April.
Technically speaking, Olivia Pichardo finished her career with a perfect 0.00 ERA!
Brown still has (at least) one game left in the 2026 regular season. The Bears will be the No. 3 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.
However, Pichardo is already looking ahead to next year. Her college baseball career will be over after four seasons but she is not yet out of collegiate eligibility! She wants to make the transition to college softball and entered the transfer portal to do so.
If a team is willing to take a chance on Pichardo, it would be the first time in her life that she has ever played softball. She is obviously not going to pitch, because the motion is completely different, but she can really swing it! Will a powerhouse program give her the opportunity?