Hall of Famer from Howard Beach

An athlete from south Queens devastated the competition with sheer skill and determination while compiling numbers good enough for a hall of fame induction. This athlete is strong, confident and dominant. This athlete is a female.
After four years of college softball supremacy, Howard Beach native Ellen Sarosy was inducted into the Fairfield University Athletic Hall of Fame in March – and the star athlete knows that the Connecticut University’s honor could have very broad implications.
“It is such a great honor for all the hard work I put in for four years. It makes me feel like I am an important part of the program. What I did was pave the way for girls,” she said. “I was excited.”
Sarosy began playing baseball with the Ozone-Howard Little League as a 6-year-old – hers was a coed team that used a pitching machine. It’s a far cry from the level of competition she would go on to face at the university level, but it was the spark that lit her competitive fire.
From there, she went on to play Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates where she co-captained the team to the state title in 1998. It wasn’t long before she was co-captaining Fairfield’s team – and in 2003 she was named as the university’s Female Athlete of the Year. By the time she was finished at Fairfield, she set the record for career hits and stolen bases.
Known as an ironman ballplayer willing to play any position, Sarosy played everywhere from centerfield to pitcher and everything in between. But if it was up to her, Sarosy would play shortstop every chance she gets.
“My favorite position would have to be shortstop because it is the leader on the field,” she said. “I was always drawn to that position.”
But Sarosy would play anywhere she was needed, according to her coach at Fairfield, Julie Bzrezinski. Coupled with her skills, that willingness to do what was necessary to win was a devastating advantage for the Fairfield club.
“She was very competitive and consistent,” said Bzrezinski. “You knew what effort she was going to give and what the result was going to be. She added different dimensions to her game with her speed.”
Bzrezinski lauded Sarosy’s work ethic as unmatched and marveled at the athlete’s ability to play as consistently as she did for as long as she did.
“It is hard to be successful for as long as she was,” she said. “She is a tough out and the opposition tried to do the best they could to get her out, but she was able to overcome that with her speed and hard work.”
That hard work enabled Sarosy to compile one of her most impressive stats – during her four years at Fairfield, she played in every single game.
“The four years that I played every game is one of the accomplishments that I am the most proud of. Once I started working hard it seemed like they needed me and I was an asset to the team. With my speed and defense, I was able to win games. The only thing I wanted was to be in every moment.”
Currently, Sarosy plays in a co-ed league, and in the future she intends on becoming a coach. While at Fairfield, she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Finance and currently is a broker dealer for fixed income insurance security firm Cambridge International.