Pioneer Pichardo reluctant to steal team's spotlight

In her ideal world, Olivia Pichardo would just play ball and not take attention away from her teammates.

"Sometimes it feels a little ridiculous," she told reporters. "But, it's something I understand is going to happen. That's not what my primary focus is ever on."

Pichardo grew accustomed to being the only girl on her baseball team during her years in Little League, high school and travel ball. Four years ago, she tried out for the Brown University team, made it and, early in her freshman season, became the first woman to appear in a Division I game when she pinch-hit against Bryant University.

As a senior, last Saturday she became the first woman to pitch in a Division I game when she got the final out in a key win over Cornell.

"I feel like sometimes it might distract a bit too much from the success of our team," Pichardo said.

"We just made the playoffs for the first time since 2007, so that's a huge accomplishment, and I wouldn't want to take away from that."

Pichardo was listed as an outfielder and pitcher in her first three years, and focused only on pitching this season. The fact she stuck it out for four years might seem surprising. Brown has played 151 games since Pichardo arrived, and she has appeared in only six. She pinch-hit once as a freshman, once as a sophomore and three times as a junior, when she also played right field for an inning and caught two fly outs.

Until Saturday, she hadn't appeared in a game this season, let alone warmed up in the bullpen. With Brown leading Cornell 16-3 in the ninth inning, coach Frank Holbrook's plan was to have little-used reliever Ty Harris get the first two outs and have Pichardo finish.

The 174-centimeter, 75-kilogram Pichardo has a four-pitch repertoire that includes a low-80s four-seam fastball to go with a sinker, change-up and curve. She entered with the bases loaded and threw two fastballs to Tyler Beaulieu, who grounded out to short to end Brown's 16-4 win.