By Joey Gelman
While Farragut may have been seen as an underdog outside of the school’s walls heading into this year’s 16-Inch Softball Playoffs, the team and school community always knew they could compete with the toughest teams in the District.
And they proved all the doubters and city wrong by securing their first-ever Chicago Public League 16-Inch Softball Championship, and the school’s first city title in any sport in over 20 years.
Admirals fans were buzzing with excitement at Hamlin Park, sporting their blue and yellow Farragut gear, cheering as loud as they could for their team with fans surrounding every corner of the diamond, noisemakers in hand.
The crowd was treated to a historic semi-final performance as the Admirals shut out an always-tough Lane Tech squad 10-0 and advanced to the championship game against the defending champion, Payton.
What was the key to the championship game?
“Simple, do what you did in the last game, now is not the time to change what you’re doing,” said Head Coach Cary Bolnick.
And while Payton jumped out to a first-inning 1-0 lead, the Farragut offense followed the team once again into this game, as it answered with a 14-run bottom of the first inning, totaling 24 runs in back-to-back games.
“It was a lot of batting practice, hitting the right spots, hitting the gaps, and just hitting it hard, that has been our mentality the whole time,” said junior captain Nico Roman.
Alongside stellar pitching from Roberto Trejo, the Admirals defeated the Grizzlies in three innings 14-2 to capture the long-elusive title.
“It feels great,” Bolnick said. “I’ve been coaching here for 10 years and every year we have gotten a little bit better and a little bit better, and I told the guys, I think this is the best team we’ve had, and we knew we could do it, we played our best softball at the right time. Flags fly forever; it will always say Farragut up there. They’ll always have this.”
“It feels amazing,” said senior captain Bende Mateo. “I love this group of guys, we all contributed. We ‘ve been wanting this for all four years. I think it was just our energy, we really wanted to win, we were really hungry.”
Schools such as Taft, Lane, Whitney Young and Payton have been synonymous with success in 16-inch softball over the course of its history at CPS, but Farragut wanted to compete with the best and showed they could in this year’s playoffs.
The Admirals requested and earned their way to the top conference in the league, wanting to face the top teams and have a chance at capturing the city title this season. During the year, they beat their new conference rivals at least once, and this experience proved to be key in helping the team secure the biggest win of their season in the championship.
“Everybody underestimates a small, 400-kid school, but we’re coming out here to play like everyone else with the same aggression, and it’s crazy to show that a small school can win, and this puts us on the map,” said Roman.
The win is not just a big achievement for the school community itself, but is a testament to the softball culture and community in Little Village.
“Softball is a big deal [in Little Village], these guys play all summer, there’s a big community league that adults play in, kids play in, I play in, our coaches play in. Everybody plays on it. I’d love to take all the credit like I turned these kids into great softball players, but it’s Little Village. They’ve had a bunch of coaches over the years who have helped them. 16-Inch softball is a big deal in the community,” Bolnick said.
Both the Farragut and Little Village communities will continue to celebrate their Admirals’ historic accomplishment as the fall continues, and will get to cheer on many of the same student-athletes this spring, who will take their softball talents to the baseball diamond.
The players hope this primer for the baseball season will help them climb the conference standings under coach Bolnick, who also coaches baseball, having finished last year with an IHSA Baseball Regional Championship appearance, coming off of a 2024 CPL North Conference Championship.
