How Olivia Pichardo defied doubters to make baseball history

FOR MONTHS, BROWN University head baseball coach Grant Achilles was asked when Olivia Pichardo might take the field and become the first woman to play in Division I. National media attended every game hoping to catch a glimpse of history -- an unusual amount of attention for a baseball team typically covered by the student newspaper.

Pichardo, an outfielder and a pitcher who has played baseball since she was 5, had shined on stages from Little League to PONY baseball to MLB's Trailblazer Series and all the way to a stint with the USA Baseball Women's National Team in 2022. But when it was announced that she had made the Brown Bears as a walk-on, interest had perhaps never been higher.

On…