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'Party Island' on Lady Bird Lake, seen from above on Aug.8. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
Kayaks, tubes and paddle boards jammed side by side have appeared on Lady Bird Lake throughout the summer, despite local orders prohibiting gatherings and advising social distancing. The crowd of mostly young people at a shallow sandbar where Barton Creek flows into the lake has come to be known by locals as "Party Island."
The draw to Lady Bird Lake's 82-degree waters is understandable. Austin temperatures have soared to 100 degrees or higher for 24 days this month alone, according to AccuWeather, with no break in the forecast.
Mayor Steve Adler's July 14 order to "stay home, mask and otherwise be safe" remains in force, as does a 1964 city ordinance that bans swimming in Lady Bird Lake. Yet the partying continues into this weekend.
Friends and strangers congregate in Lady Bird Lake in what is now being called "Party Island" on Aug 8. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
"Party Island" on Lady Bird Lake, seen from above. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
People beat the heat by paddle boarding and kayaking in the waters of Lady Bird Lake. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
A crowd gathers Aug. 21 in the lake, despite prohibitions on gatherings of more than 10 people and local ordinances banning swimming in the lake. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
A woman paddle boards on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
People jump from the Barton Creek pedestrian bridge. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
Paddle boarders and kayakers enter the lake waters at the Austin High Boat launch. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
Paddlers make their way around Lady Bird Lake. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
A man and his dog give a young woman a ride from the Austin High Boat launch out to Party Island on Lady Bird Lake. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
(Jordan Vonderhaar)
Various paddlers enter the water at Lou Neff Point—the closest point to the newly formed "Party Island"—on Lady Bird Lake. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
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Cat Osterman is retiring from softball after a 17-year Olympic career and three Olympic medals. (USA Softball/Twitter)
Osterman, a three-time Olympian who has been called the "Michael Jordan of softball," will officially retire from the international realm at 38 after a decorated career that included Olympic golds, years of retirement and plenty of adversity—from a worldwide pandemic to dashed gold-medal dreams.
Osterman and her crew left Tokyo on a bittersweet note on Tuesday with a silver medal in hand.
Osterman with Team USA in 2008. (Antoni Majewski/Twitter)
Osterman in the final in 2021. (Antoni Majewski/Twitter)
After a year of sparse in-person training and over a decadelong hiatus, Team USA and Osterman flew to the finals. In five games, the team beat Italy (2-0), Canada (1-0), Mexico (2-0), Australia (2-1), and Japan (2-1).
Deja vu struck in the final match. On one side, Osterman and fellow 2008 Olympic teammate Monica Abbott took the mound; on the other was the 39-year-old Yukiko Ueno, a familiar foe who helped the team beat Team USA last go-round.
"Just like 13 years ago," Ueno said in a press conference, "we were facing each other in the final."
Ueno, who had lost hopes at gold to Osterman in '04, outpitched her longtime opponent with six scoreless innings as Team USA was held to just three hits. The same team that squandered their gold-medal hopes 13 years before had done it once again.
"There's a little bit of disappointment in not bringing home the gold since that's the eye on the prize when you go over there and you know you have a shot at it," Osterman told Austonia. "But more than anything, I'm very proud of the way our team handled everything that was part of this journey and not just the six games."
It's that very loss at the 2008 Olympics that partially motivated Osterman to get back on the mound. She officially put down the glove in 2015 after six seasons with the USSSA Pride, took time with family and began coaching at Texas State University.
Osterman helped ace Randi Rupp to greatness while a coach at Texas State University. (Active Voice Health/Twitter)
She thought her Olympic endeavors were well over—until talks of reinstating softball into the Games reentered the conversation.
"It wasn't until 2016 or 2017, that it ever crossed my mind to possibly put the USA uniform on again," Osterman said. "After the World Championships in 2010, I walked away, and I thought that my career on the international stage was done. So this was a pleasant kind of new opportunity."
Three years after facing any competition, Osterman was on the field once more with world-class athletes. Some, like Osterman and Abbott, had been playing together long enough to form a formidable "Fire and Ice" duo on the mound. Others had just graduated college.
Osterman said playing with a younger generation of athletes was one of the most rewarding aspects of this year's Games.
"It can be very different when you have 24- and 38-year-olds on the same field," Osterman said. "The adversity put us in some challenging positions and we came through with flying colors. And this group will forever be special just because what we had to go through is so different."
While on the mound, Osterman's job was to give the team a calm start. Off of the field, she felt her role had much of the same effect: she knew that new Olympic feeling, and she served as a deep breath to her first-time teammates.
"There's no words to explain how nervous and excited you get knowing that the whole world can be watching," Osterman. "I think using those emotions and figuring out how to get all our butterflies lined up and going in the right direction, so that way we were all moving together, was kind of my role outside of pitching."
We've heard her retire once before, but this time Osterman said she's gone for good—even from coaching. After her final time with Team USA on Sept. 27, she plans on returning to Austin, where she'll look to work for a nonprofit.
A gold and two silvers will have to do for one of the most decorated athletes in U.S. softball history.
"To be able to say you're a three-time Olympic medalist is a pretty special deal, right?" Osterman. "I played for a long time. But those are the pinnacle, in my mind, and kind of what elicits the dream to keep playing."
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