That's probably a true yet misleading stat. There are over 450 majors in the STEM category and many of them are not what we think of when you say STEM. I don't consider psychology a STEM major, but it is along with a lot of other -ology degrees. Plus you have some schools where the entire team would be in a STEM major just based on what that school teaches. I'll have to ask my dd how many athletes are in the engineering program at her school. We have all heard from past players how they were discouraged from nursing or other tough degrees and pushed toward easier degree tracks by coaches. In some cases the softball scholarship is just that a chance to major in softball.
Not to disparage anyone, because making a D1 team is an accomplishment in itself but I have watched a lot of softball and I don't see many players whose major is nursing, engineering or Computer science or Physics... And to be completely fair half of the kids who go to college with those specific degrees as their goal don't make it past the first year. My dd said they washed out 40% of the engineering students before the first semester of freshman year ended.
Edit to ad: And this is not to pass judgement on the athletes, I'm passing judgement on the universities. I don't think the colleges and coaches as a whole are doing enough for the kids who are putting in so much work toward the sport. They need to better prepare these kids for the next 40 years. I think many schools are not doing their jobs for the athlete and that's my issue with college athletics as a whole.
Jumping in quickly as a psychologist and psychology professor. Some subspecialties of psychology, such as biopsychology, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology, are much more closely aligned to the so-called "hard sciences" than they are to any of that "touchy-feely therapy Dr. Phil stuff" (as I've heard it described by a student). There are great career possibilities in those fields either in terms of becoming an academic/researcher or a consultant (e.g., consulting with neurosurgeons re: cutting-edge brain surgery techniques). Just wanted to put in my $.02 about that!