Giving it all, giving it back
When making her college decision, junior catcher Emily Roper knew she was going to be a student-athlete. “My dad was a big athlete growing up, and with my brothers being college athletes, I understood the process,” she said. “When it came to me it wasn’t a, ‘Are you going to play in college?’ It was a, ‘Where are you going to play in college?’” She found her way to Elon, where she has so played in 143 of the Phoenix’s 145 games since she’s stepped on campus. This season, Roper is batting .333 with five doubles, five home runs and 29 RBI. With numbers like that, it might be tempting to let them define her. But Roper’s career at Elon — and her path to the softball program — is far more three-dimensional than a stat sheet could capture.
