Joanne's Story
1972 –
Jo Brown learnt her softball in the ACT. She played 244 games for Australia, after her debut in 1990. As well as two bronze medals from Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, she played in three world championships. Perhaps the highlight of her career was at Atlanta. In a preliminary match against the United States and at the bottom of the tenth inning, with two batters out and two strikes against her, she hit the winning home run. The loss was only the second for the Americans’ in ten years. The United States recovered from that loss to win the gold medal from China. In Sydney, the United States again suffered a defeat by Australia before going on to win the gold medal from Japan.
Brown’s contribution to softball has seen her inducted into the ACT Sport Hall of Fame (2005), the Softball Australia Hall of Fame (2004) and the International Softball Hall of Fame (2005).
