Orange County Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares recently offered some words of praise for Godinez High School’s girls softball team for winning Santa Ana Unified School District’s first-ever softball CIF championship.
Mijares said the team’s phenomenal rise to the apex of high school sports should serve as inspiration for not just athletes, but for all young people as well.
They’re Champs! @GodinezSoftball beats El Segundo 15-1 to become 1st Santa Ana district team to win CIF ? @ocvarsity ? pic.twitter.com/DVkjIJi7Fu
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 18, 2019
Godinez won the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship last month when the team steamrolled El Segundo High by a score of 15-1. The title follows years of dominance at the league level. Since the 2016 season, the team has won four straight league championships, with a combined league record of 40-0. But a CIF title had eluded the team until this spring.
OC teams win plenty of CIF titles each year across all sports. But Superintendent Mijares, a former superintendent of Santa Ana Unified, said he was impressed with how quickly Godinez has built such a strong softball program to rival those of schools with decades of tradition in the sport.
1st-look at the greatest Santa Ana district ? team in history: @GodinezSoftball ?@godinezsports @ocvarsity @SoCalSidelines pic.twitter.com/JDx2y74T8J
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 18, 2019
A school that just opened 12 years ago now ranks as a softball powerhouse, with a mountain of accolades to prove it. Besides the CIF crown, the Orange County Register named Godinez Coach Ed Medina as county softball Coach of the Year, and infielder Savannah Pola was named to the all-county team. Savannah’s sister, Keana Pola, was named Golden West League MVP. A total of seven Godinez players were named all-league in the first or second teams.
Godinez has since been recognized for winning its title by the Santa Ana City Council and by U.S. Congressman Lou Correa, who represents Santa Ana and the surrounding region.