Godinez softball team gets a rousing tribute as school celebrates historic CIF title

Godinez High’s CIF championship squad was honored Thursday. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

It was a tribute fitting of a CIF champion as hundreds of Godinez High students turned out Thursday afternoon to honor the CIF Division 4 champion girls softball team.

The squad finished 26-4 overall and made history by becoming the first softball team from the Santa Ana Unified School District to earn a CIF title.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

The No. 2-seeded Grizzlies captured the crown in convincing manner, defeating El Segundo 15-1 Saturday at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine.

The band and cheerleaders marched into the quad area first and then the softball players, accompanied by Coach Edward Medina, walked in and up to the stage to a standing ovation.

“I was just really amazed that they would do something like this for us and I’m really proud of our team,” said senior shortstop Keana Pola, who is headed to Nebraska to play softball next season and capped the season by being named the MVP of the Golden West League.

“It’s been unreal to be honest,” she said. “I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it since we’ve been chasing it (a CIF title) for three years now. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Athletic Director Lisa Treen praised the accomplishments of the players and rattled off a list of individual and team achievements.

“It’s been so exciting,” said Treen, adding that the players have been sized for CIF championship rings and there will be more plaques and T-shirts coming. “I’m just so proud of their accomplishments. They’re a solid, solid group.

“It was fun to see them play. It wasn’t just the one person standing out, it was really a collective group effort and coming through at the right time when someone else wasn’t stepping up to do the job.”

Medina, who has been the coach since the start of the program, said he had special memories of the team.

“It was the way they got along,” Medina said when asked what stood out about the team.

“They grew up together since they were 10 and they went through the process of elementary school, intermediate school and now high school and playing together and against each other on travel teams helped when they came here. From day one, they gelled. We won our first league championship with that group, and here we are with the same group and we won a CIF championship.

“In between that, there has been an up and down roller coaster but they’ve always stayed centered with each other and that was the key. We just rolled with it and the outcome was fantastic and I couldn’t be happier than what’s happening with this program right now and the city. Thanks to the district and all the support I got from them.”

Medina, when he spoke to the students, thanked Treen, administrators at the school and the district, and all those who supported the team.

He also thanked his assistant coaches Kevin Pola, Claire Castellanos and Selene Pola.

Selene Pola, the older sister of Savannah Pola and Keana Pola, two of the stars of the team, was instrumental to the team’s success, he said.

“She was the key to the whole thing, keeping our pitchers under control and understanding the circle because she’s been in the circle at the highest level (at Long Beach State) so it was a great accomplishment getting her here and participating on our coaching staff,” he said.

Selene Pola played softball at Segerstrom High and is now teaching English at Godinez.

“I’m just so proud of the girls, we worked really hard this season and they were really determined to make it farther than they did last year,” she said. “We kept telling them every game, ‘if we play our best we know we’re going to win.’ But we had to play our best and we did that in five consecutive games and that got us a CIF championship.”

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-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com