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More women's history at Monmouth, courtesy of baseball pitcher Sophia Broderick

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (04/02/2026) — Once the count reached 1-2, the pitcher on the mound for Monmouth College knew what to throw next. The freshman righthander put a slider grip on the baseball and tossed a pitch that looked like it might be a strike until it broke into the dirt, inducing the desired chase and miss. And that's how she posted the first strikeout of her collegiate career.

Yes, she. It was a little bit more diamond history for Sophia Broderick, who's made a habit of pitching success since starting out in baseball a decade ago at the age of 8. The strikeout came on March 11 - smack in the middle of Women's History Month - against Penn State-Behrend during the Fighting Scots' annual Florida trip and was part of an impressive stretch for her in the game. The next two batters Broderick faced flied out and grounded out and, after a leadoff walk the next inning, she notched her second K on an 0-2 pitch.

Less than two years after Mylee Hansen suited up for the Scots varsity and booted an extra point to blaze a trail at Monmouth in football, Broderick became the first female athlete to play in a Scots baseball game. Like Hansen, she'd been told the opportunity might be coming, but it didn't unfold exactly as it was envisioned.

"Coach (Neil) Mecagni told me that I might pitch in our Wednesday or Thursday games," said Broderick, who stands 5-foot-9. "He told me the plan was to put me in a clean inning."

But just like Joe Maddon's plan of a clean inning for Jon Lester in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series didn't happen, Broderick's entrance into the game was the opposite extreme of clean - bases loaded, no one out.

In addition to the situational pressure, Broderick was hearing a little chirping from the Penn State parent section. But, to their credit, their chatter turned to cheers when Broderick flashed her strikeout form.

Warming up to her

It was all new to the Lions fans - heck, it was new to Scots fans, too - but it's old hat for Broderick, who's spent several of the past 10 years as the ace of her team's staff. That success led her to believe that college baseball was possible, and Monmouth was one of two schools that showed serious interest.

Still, Broderick was anxious. In her hometown of suburban Geneva, Illinois, many of her teammates had been with her throughout her diamond journey. By the time she was moving up the ranks of Geneva High School's freshman and JV teams and earning a varsity spot, they were fully aware she had command of the strike zone. But joining a new team full of new guys meant she was losing control of her comfort zone.

"Coming in, I was kinda worried, but the whole team has been nothing but supportive and very respectful of me," said Broderick.
And for good reason, says Mecagni, an assistant coach who pitched for the Scots in 2010-11.

"Sophia has been fantastic addition to our program," he said. "She's been a great competitor from day one and has blended with our team and our team culture seamlessly. She came in with a really good knowledge base, has been extremely coachable, and has made some big strides already in a short amount of time. I'm excited to see what the future holds for her."

It's a baseball future not only limited to the Monmouth mound and playing against men, but competing for the U.S. national women's team, too, which she's been part of the past few summers, including 2024, when she was the only new addition to its roster. She's played in North Carolina and Minnesota, among other places, and she'll spend this summer toggling back and forth with the squad between Chicago and Rockford.

Hoping to say 'I-80'

"I'd watched a lot of video, but I hadn't seen her throw live in-game until she got on campus this fall," said Mecagni. "From the video, I knew she had an athletic motion and a quick arm. Seeing her throw live reinforced those things. I was very impressed by her in-game stuff and how she competes with it. She throws a really good four- to five-pitch mix with her two-seam and slider being outlier pitches that allow her to go out and consistently get outs."

"The coaches told me they definitely liked what they saw in Florida," said Broderick. "I threw a lot of strikes."

What she didn't quite do - but came incredibly close - was hit 80 miles per hour on the radar gun, which would've been her new fastest pitch.

"I was consistently throwing 79 in Florida," she said. "And I was getting really close to 80, like 79.6. But I didn't know that until after I came out of the game. I've never hit 80. If I'd known I was so close, I probably would've just let one eat. I might've hit it."

Broderick said she's "naturally always had a pretty good arm" and "pretty decent velo," experiencing several seasons of being her team's ace and its hardest thrower "before the guys hit puberty."

But her five-pitch arsenal - an arsenal she's developed, in part, through years of pitching to her dad and "biggest supporter," Sean Broderick - is still a force to be reckoned with at Monmouth, where she figures to slot in as a reliever. With the national team, she enjoys getting the chance to hit and is a force there, as well.

Women's baseball is building momentum, rising back to the level it enjoyed in the mid-20th century, which was captured in the movie A League of Their Own, starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks. Former Little League World Series star Mo'ne Davis is part of that momentum, and Broderick has seen some of her national teammates drafted by the new Women's Professional Baseball League, which is set to debut in August as the first professional women's baseball league in the U.S. since 1954. One of her teammates, Olivia Pichardo, made history a few years back as the first woman to play Division I baseball, suiting up at Brown University, where she's now a senior.

Broderick will let her collegiate career play out before she thinks too much of the WPBL but, long-term, professional sports is very much on her mind. Whenever her playing days end, she hopes to turn her extensive background in sports - and her Monmouth communication studies degree - into a career in the business.

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“Sophia has been a fantastic addition to our program," said assistant coach Neil Mecagni. "She's been a great competitor from day one and has blended with our team and our team culture seamlessly."

Before she was striking out batters in Florida for the Fighting Scots, Broderick was an award-winning pitcher in the U.S. national women's team program.

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