Taft sweeps JV, Varsity city softball titles

By Dominic Scianna

To say that head coach Germaine Padilla and his Taft High School girls fastpitch softball programs on the junior varsity and varsity levels are prospering would be an understatement. The Eagles have become the present-day Chicago Public League (CPL) standard bearers for championship hardware in the sport.

Padilla won his third CPL city title at the helm of Taft High School’s varsity softball program (12 seasons) on Wednesday, May 13 to tie former legendary Taft softball coach Frank Hood. In Padilla’s most recent championship victory at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Flames Field, the Eagles gutted out a 2-1 victory over upstart Amundsen High School before a raucous crowd of close to 500 fans in attendance.

“I talk to my players about chasing greatness all the time,” said an emotional Padilla. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and that was a helluva team we beat tonight in Amundsen.”

The championship battle came down to the heroics of Taft senior pitcher Michaela Power, a Northern Illinois University commit, who struck out 9 batters and allowed just five hits and only one earned run over seven innings to earn the victory.

The Eagles (21-5) finished off an undefeated CPL season by hanging on in the top of the seventh.

The Vikings of Amundsen threatened behind senior catcher and UIC commit Ashley Ellevog, but Power pitched around Ellevog (1-2, two walks) in the deciding frame by walking her, and, with two outs and two on, got a ground ball out to set off a wild celebration.

“Ashley’s a really good hitter and I wanted to try and get her to chase (pitches) or minimize the damage (by walking her),” said Power. “I’ve known coach (Padilla) since sixth grade and he’s always had a lot of confidence in me. I appreciate that because it has allowed me to get as far as I did this season, especially pitching in these tight games.”

Taft was led offensively by sophomore Avelese Cruz, who had the winning RBI and went 1-of-2 on the day, along with junior Jaida Matos, who had a sacrifice fly and an RBI in the second inning to start the scoring for the Eagles.

Amundsen (20-8) was led by Ellevog and Skylar Shelist (2-of-3 with an RBI), and got a strong pitching performance from Vikings pitcher Allie Reynolds (7 strikeouts) in the loss.

TAFT WINS 4-3 THRILLER TO TAKE JUNIOR VARSITY (JV) CROWN

Gianna Domico was stellar in her seven innings in the circle as the Taft freshman struck out 9 batters and walked just two hitters on her way to securing the 4-3 victory over Lane Tech in the junior varsity (JV) girls softball title game at Flames Field on May 13.

“I thought I was going to pass out and was running on adrenaline in that last inning,” said first year Taft head coach Kelly Watson, “Today Gianna rocked it, and she’s really great at framing her movement with her pitches, and showed that she knows what she’s doing at the right moment.”

The Eagles were led by catcher Hailey Koy who had two hits, scored two runs, and knocked in an RBI, to go with shortstop Isabella Diaz who also had two hits, including a double, in the victory.

Lane Tech got key contributions from Eleanor Kerstetter (2-of-4 with an RBI) and Jillian Johnson who went 1-of-2 with two runs scored in defeat.