Baseball, one of the most popular sports in the United States. Among the tens of thousands of college baseball teams in the U.S., the prestigious baseball team is difficult to enter. The American college baseball league is largely divided into three divisions (Division 1, 2, and 3). Among them, the top league, D1, consists of 299 teams, each with 30 rosters. Among them, the second grade of the prestigious Brown University in the U.S., which is included in the Ivy League and the D1 League, became a hot topic earlier this year. This is because she is the first female student to play in the D1 League. I recently met Olivia Pichar in writing. 스포츠토토탑

Olivia decided to join Brown University's baseball team last fall when she was a freshman and accepted a tryout. Olivia said, "I wanted to test myself, so I told Brown University's baseball coach that I was going to join. I tried to stay in the best condition by playing baseball all summer last year. It was just the idea of really doing my best. "Thankfully, I was able to join the team's 30-member roster," he said.

Olivia had a fierce competition with the boys. In the case of U.S. universities, they do not select players to join the baseball team every year, and when they have a chance, they hold a selection match for only a few positions. Olivia broke through this competition and joined a prestigious baseball team. Olivia said, "During the last fall (September to November), Brown University baseball teams not only play their own practice games with the players who participated in the tryouts, but also train them very intensely to assess how they perform their duties."

And finally Olivia accomplished what she had long dreamed of. "Olivia has really prepared a lot for the start," Brown University baseball team coach Grant told local media. He even said, "I've never seen such a thoroughly prepared player." Olivia said, "I was really surprised when the baseball team officially announced that I was on the roster for the 2023 season. "I've wanted to continue playing baseball even when I went to college since I was young, but I didn't expect much because I was included," he said.

Meanwhile, Olivia also prepared for the U.S. women's national baseball team selection along with joining Brown University's baseball team. The U.S. women's national baseball team, ranked fourth in the world, held its final selection in June and participated in the preliminary round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) '2024 Women's Baseball World Cup' held in Thunder Bay, Canada, from early August. The U.S. national team succeeded in changing generations, led by Kelsey Whitmore (25), Ashton Rensdel (22), Jamie Baum (20), Olivia Pichardo (19), and Naomi Ryan (16), the first female players to sign with the U.S. minor leagues. As a result, she defeated world No. 3 Canada 23-0 to qualify for the final round of next year's 2024 Women's Baseball World Cup in Canada with all five wins.

Olivia was a pitcher and a batter, helping the team win the game. He had two scoreless innings as a pitcher, a batting average of 0.333 and an OPS of 1.389. Olivia also played as a closer against South Korea in the tournament. At that time, the South Korean national team lost to the U.S. 0-14 cold game. Olivia, who took the mound as a closer, struck out one in one inning to complete her team's cold game victory without losing a point.

Olivia said, "This year's Korean women's baseball team has a lot of young players similar to ours. I know well that Korean female baseball players are not in an environment to play baseball all year round. That's why I respect the passion and attitude of the Korean national team players toward baseball." Olivia has been linked with South Korea since 2019. Olivia visited Korea with her parents to participate in the "4th LG Cup International Women's Baseball Tournament" hosted by LG Electronics in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do in 2019.

"It's the best experience of my baseball life," Olivia said, recalling that time. It would have been great if Kim Ra-kyung (Seoul National University) and Park Min-seo, who met at that time, participated in this year's Women's Baseball World Cup as members of the Korean national team. In particular, I heard that Park Min-seo turned into a golfer due to the reality of women's baseball. "Investment in women's baseball should continue to foster young prospects full of potential," he said. Olivia wakes up at 5 a.m., does weight training from 7 a.m., takes school classes, and goes to baseball training. I've been busy studying and playing baseball all day long. This is why Olivia said, "I can't afford to think about that deeply," when asked about her thoughts on playing as the first woman in the D1 League.

Olivia's final dream is to become a major leaguer, who has held an internship at the New York Mets scouting department in the U.S. Major League Baseball for four weeks. Outfielder Kelsey Whitmore, already a senior member of the national team, has signed a contract with the U.S. minor league "Peri Hooks." Olivia aims to go one step further and become the first woman to take the stage of the Major League, the stage of stars. Olivia said, "You have to break the rules. If a woman wants to run where only men used to run, she has to. In that position, I face every moment. We can change the negative view of the people around us when we firmly decide and face the moment," he stressed. Finally, Olivia said, "I hope many girls around the world will start playing baseball. I don't know exactly how young girls are playing baseball in Korea, but I hope you start this amazing sport. "When you succeed in baseball, you will achieve anything in your life," he said, hoping to revitalize women's baseball.