Over 8,000 miles from her home, Taylor Chillingworth is chasing her opportunity to play softball at an elite level.
Chillingworth is an Australian sophomore utility player for the San José State Spartans softball team.
In Australia, softball is not a popular sport. Chillingworth was introduced to the sport by her mother, Elisa.
“It’s such a big family and connected sport over there,” Chillingworth said.
The biggest lesson her mother taught her was to chase opportunity.
Her mother was from the small town of Mount Gambier and moved to Adelaide, South Australia, for school when she was 18.
“I feel like my big move is from Australia to the U.S., which is a bit different to hers, but similar in the same sense,” Chillingworth said.
Back home, Chillingworth played for the South Australia U23 team and was named Batter of the Tournament at that level.
She was named Junior Athlete of the Year two years in a row, in 2021 and 2022.
She became a member of the South Australian (Starz) Open Women’s national championship team in 2022.
Drawn to the opportunities her mom taught her to chase, Chillingworth decided to pursue college in America to take softball more seriously.
“The competition is just so much better here,” Chillingworth said.
Chillingworth had an agent who helped her get recruited from Australia.
“It was hard because the coaches couldn’t see me play in person, so they really were going off film, stats, and word of mouth,” she said. “But SJSU took me on an official visit, which was amazing and felt so personal.”
She hopes to compete in the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympics and needs a more aggressive level of training.
“It really pushes me to be a better player and helps me grow and have so much greater experiences within the game,” Chillingworth said.
When she visited SJSU on her official visit the summer of her junior year of high school, she was pulled in by the campus, athletic facilities and SJSU softball head coach Tammy Lohmann.
“She wanted me to feel comfortable with the program, school, and staff before I committed here,” Chillingworth said. “A lot of other schools don’t really offer (official visits) as it does come at a big expense to them as an international.”
Before Lohmann became the head coach of SJSU’s softball team in 2020, she spent 15 seasons as the associate head coach at the University of California, Berkeley.
“When she coached at Berkeley, she coached one of my teammates from Australia,” Chillingworth said. “So I also knew that she was a good coach and someone that I would like playing underneath.”
Chillingworth’s freshman season was spent as a redshirt because she tore her ACL, an injury that taught her resilience in the way she approached the game.
“Even though college sports are really serious, it’s our choice to be out there, and it is fun and it is a game at the end of the day,” Chillingworth said.
Her first season competing in 2025 was full of success. She made 42 appearances and started 38 games. A highlight of the season was hitting a home run and an RBI triple against Howard University on Feb. 21, 2025.
Chillingworth tallied 14 hits, seven runs and eight RBIs, finishing with 22 total bases on the 2025 season.
Her experience as a national player has helped her develop unique skills to bring to college softball.
“I think knowing how to compete at that level definitely helps, like when you get into the college setting and also with mentoring the freshman,” Chillingworth said. “I feel like I can offer a different perspective.”
Her teammates at SJSU provide her with the support system she needs to deal with being so far from her family.
“The team, including our coaching staff, we’re pretty much one big family,” Chillingworth said. “I feel like it’s pretty easy to get homesick when you’re pretty far away, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be worth it for my life experiences and softball.”
