Ellen's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Softball
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1992
State Born: NSW
About Ellen
Ellen Roberts took to softball as a five-year-old and quickly decided to invest much of her time into the game, quickly becoming a skilled young athlete.
Roberts’ first appearance at a State Championships was in 2001 with the U10s at Blacktown Olympic Park, just one year after the diamond was used to host the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Roberts’ lists this ground as one she enjoys playing on the most.
In 2008, Roberts was selected to her first NSW side, and has since become a permanent fixture in the setup and has won 10 national championship titles.
After continuing to develop her talent throughout the youth ranks, Roberts travelled overseas once she finished her secondary education to play collegiately for the University of Memphis Softball team.
Whilst in America, Roberts performed admirably as a student-athlete, with the now 29-year-old earning a 3.0+ Grade Point Average in her four years of study. Roberts also broke 25 school records in her college stint.
As a member of the Australian Spirit national team, Roberts has enjoyed opportunities to travel across the globe for her softball career. In Europe, Roberts especially relishes the chance to play in Italy or the Netherlands.
Ellen made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 games, pitching for the Australian Spirit. The Aussies would face a first-round matchup against Japan, now not only the past Olympic champions but also the hosts of the event. In their opening fixture, the Aussies would fall to Japan (8)-(1) a rough loss to the hosts, who would go on to win consecutive Gold medals.
Roberts would be instrumental in Australia's bounce back in their second fixture of the games, where they would hold a (1)-(0) lead against Italy until the end of the tie. She would earn herself a 'save' for her extraordinary pitching efforts. They would not, however, continue this run of form, later falling to eventual bronze medalists in Canada.
This would set up a must-win match against the United States, one of the strongest teams competing in the discipline. Australia would fall agonisingly close to a result against the US, in a fixture that would remain scoreless for 7 innings and required to go into extras. The United States would ultimately edge out the match, winning (2) - (1).
In their final game, Australia would play Mexico for a place in the bronze medal match. The team would, unfortunately, fail to qualify for their third medal consecutive medal matchup, losing the match (4) - (1).
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