HOUSTON – Around the Second Baptist School campus this spring there is a new coach donning the navy and gold on the softball diamond.
It is Coach Oz.
Margo Ostarticki has taken over the lead spot in the Eagles’ dugout for the Second Baptist School softball team.
Ostarticki played collegiately at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2006 to 2010. Following her collegiate career, Ostarticki started personal instruction and coaching select softball teams. It has been 12 years of being in and out of coaching in the select softball world for Ostarticki, while also working for a law firm.
This past summer, Ostarticki decided to make a career-altering life choice to make softball her full-time job.
“I knew softball was always my passion and where my heart was,” Ostarticki said. “I just didn’t know if I could take that leap of faith and really make it my full-time job. My husband and I sat down one day, and he said, ‘you need to work somewhere where you’re going to be happy every day.’”
Ostarticki started looking for a place that would enhance her overall quality of life and create the balance she desired. She found Second Baptist School.
“When I interviewed with [Director of Athletics] Mike Walker, it seemed like a family environment,” Ostarticki said. “I have a one and two-year-old, and I needed that support. I needed somewhere that supported me being a mom and having a career, with my love of softball and Jesus Christ.
“I found it all here.”
At Second Baptist School, along with serving as the head softball coach, Ostarticki teaches motor skills and physical education classes for the lower school, coached seventh grade volleyball and guides the middle school softball players as well.
Ostarticki has been on campus since August, and she has taken over the reins of the defending TAPPS Division II State Champion softball team.
“Working with coaches who have experience with our team, like Jeff Schroeder and Kelli Cager has helped me not to reinvent the wheel but to understand what they had success with,” Ostarticki said. “Picking their brains and then putting my own pizazz on it has helped a lot.”
This team does look different than last season but key pieces return including Ella Ryan ’23, Becca Sloan ’22, Emma Garcia ’22 and Emily Rogers ‘23. A new piece of the puzzle will be Mackenzie Schmidt ’24, who will take over in the circle for Rachel Riley ‘21. The Penn University pitcher was a big key to the Eagles hanging a new state championship banner this fall.
As Ostarticki works through her first season leading the Eagles, she reflects on the big picture. “The game of softball is only a part of what this job asks you to do.
“It is very academically driven. Softball is 10 percent of their life and in my head, it is 100 percent during the spring. I want to make sure they have balance and that they know I’m not just their softball coach but I’m a supporter and an open door.”
So, Ostarticki has traded an office job – spending 12 hours a day on Zoom calls – for coaching the sport she loves and even playing in an occasional dodgeball game with the lower school kids.
Dream job, right?
“I get to be around young children up to high school students and hopefully change their lives,” Ostarticki said. “I want to give them positive energy and help them make the right decisions. I'm grateful for my new journey at SBS."
