There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the 2025-26 academic and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players.
This week: Senior outfielder Breezy Burnett and sophomore outfielder Jae Cosgriff.
Minnesota’s fall softball schedule is halfway done. The Gophers host Concordia-Saint Paul Friday night at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium on campus.
This also is senior centerfielder Breezy Burnett’s final fall campaign. We have followed her throughout her time in Minnesota since her freshman year.
“It went by so fast,” admitted the 5’7” Florida native after last Friday’s win over St. Cloud State. “It probably won’t hit me until I get deep into the spring.”
Her Gopherland years have been successful both on the diamond and in the classroom: two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, one of 12 softball players among 159 Gopher athletes so honored this past spring. “For me,” she continued, “it’s a standard to get good grades.”
Burnett last season started all 50 games and led the team in triples, a .982 fielding percentage and just one error. She started 53 games the season before and led Minnesota with 13 stolen bases. She had 41 starts in right field her freshman season, driving in 17 runs and scoring 14 that spring.
As she enters her senior year, her final season as a Gopher, Burnett said she is using the 10-game fall season, which concludes Oct. 10, “to get better, work out the kinks… For me, it’s getting my timing and getting back in the swing of things, especially when we are just starting up,” she pointed out.
“My personal goal is to hit for average, power, steal some bases, and make plays for my pitchers,” stressed Burnett. “And be a good teammate.”
Second-year left fielder Jae Cosgriff is looking to build off her first season as a Gopher. She started 45 of 49 games last spring and had a .968 fielding average with only two errors. She and Burnett currently are starting right alongside each other.
“I chose Minnesota because it’s a great school, great academics,” recalled the California native. “The coaching staff made me feel like going into a friend’s house. They made everything fun. All of it attracted me here.”
Said Burnett of Cosgriff, “She is going to be amazing. She is just a light for the team. Her work ethic is unmatched.”
Cosgriff is going into her sophomore year intending “to play and start all four years, and to get a great degree, hopefully do something in health.” She’s a biological sciences major.
Burnett will graduate with a journalism degree later this fall. “I am going to start my master’s in HR (human relations) hopefully in the spring,” she said.
Softball season normally doesn’t get underway until February, and typically schools such as Minnesota must play their early games in warmer locales that are not dealing with the final weeks of winter at the time. The Gophers’ two Black players both are looking forward to playing and hopefully help lead their team to the heights this season.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.