SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State softball associate head coach Cat Osterman has announced that she will take a leave of absence to prepare for her third Olympic games as a pitcher for the USA National Team. Volunteer assistant coach Paige McDuffee, a three-time Women's College World Series participant pitcher at UCLA and former pitching coach at Dartmouth, will serve as the interim pitching coach.
 
"This is such an exciting time around our program for so many reasons," said Texas State softball head coach Ricci Woodard. "On one hand we will miss Coach Osterman while she is once again representing our country on the biggest stage, and on the other hand we are so excited to have Coach McDuffee on staff full-time to take over the vacancy."
 
Osterman, who is one of the most decorated pitchers in the sport, will appear in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad held in Tokyo, Japan. Osterman claimed a gold medal in the 2004 Athens games and a silver media in the 2008 games in Beijing the last time softball was contested.
 
She is in her sixth season as a member of the Texas State coaching staff and third as associate head coach. While on staff she helped the Bobcats earn a No. 22 national ranking to finish the 2018 campaign and coached pitcher Randi Rupp to Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) First Team All-Central Region honors.
 
Osterman came out of retirement this year to rejoin Team USA for the first time since the 2010 world championships in Venezuela. She was a member of the 2019 Pan American Games club that claimed the ninth gold medal for the women's national team in the games' history. She earned her third gold at the event this past summer in Lima, Peru.
 
The southpaw took a redshirt season collegiately at Texas in 2004 and was the youngest player on the gold medal winning Athens Games squad. The Houston, Texas native competed professionally in the NPF (National Professional Fastpitch) as a member of the Rockford Thunder and USSSA Pride for eight years from 2007-15. Osterman tossed over 800 innings and sported a miniscule 0.75 ERA.
 
She enjoyed a decorated collegiate career in Austin and was a three-time NCAA Player of the Year award winner (2003, 2005, 2006) and four-time All-American and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. Her seven career perfect games are the most in NCAA history and 2,265 strikeouts the second most in the history of the sport.
 
Texas State begins its 2020 campaign on Feb. 7 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. The Bobcats will take on Osterman's USA National Team squad in an exhibition contest at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9.