Michelle Cox

Fast Facts

Sport: Softball
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1991
State Born: NSW

About Michelle

Getting into the sport through her older brother, who played baseball at seven years old, Michelle Cox was introduced to softball at school, making the switch when she was 12. She first joined the Davidson Club, but currently trains at the Manly Warringah Softball Association.

At 18 years old, Cox was named to the Australian team, making her maiden appearance in a competition against New Zealand. Upon her debut, she made three hits, including a home run. Later that year, she accepted a softball scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport. 

Michelle was a member of the bronze medal-winning Australian team who competed at the 2012 World Championships. 

Cox played college softball at San Jose State University in California, graduating with a degree in accounting in 2015. She had a batting average of .366 in her freshman year, the best on the team. She earned Academic All-WAC and first-team All-WAC honours.

Her hitting improved throughout her college career, ending her senior year with a batting average of .419. It was also in her senior year that Michelle had injured her hip running to catch a hit, colliding with and breaking the foul fence. She finished the season off before undergoing corrective surgery and was sidelined from competition for six months. 

Michelle is a current member of the Aussie Peppers, a softball team based in Minnesota that plays in the National Pro Fastpitch League, under the tutelage of Coach Laing Harrow. Number 47 on the team, Cox has played as an outfielder since 2018.

Michelle made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 games, competing alongside the women's softball team. Australia 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. 

Cox would help Australia 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. 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).