Lane Tech's Young GunsThe softball scene in the Chicagoland area is generally dominated by the suburban teams. Lane Tech is getting ready to make some noise. They have quietly built up a team of young guns to give those suburban teams a challenge and recapture the City Championship. The Pioneer Press called them the "three-headed monster." They aren't very tall, they may not put the fear into a hitter...until they see the first pitch. Whoever said that dynamite comes in small packages may have been talking about Lane Tech's Trio of Young Guns.
This young pitching staff is led by Jazzy Camacho, Jackie Manrique and Samantha Nikolich.
All three of these young ladies have a couple things in common. Their fathers have all coached softball/baseball. They all played travel softball on the Outburst with Xavier Manrique as head coach. They also at one time or another took pitching lessons from Bill Wozney of North Shore Sports.
Sam still trains with Bill Wozney, he had this to say about her, "I realized at a fall league game how fearless Sam was when I challenged her to throw three consecutive change-ups in a row. She did and struck out the batter on three pitches. Sam just wants to win."
Bill's dedication to teaching pitching shows. He went on to say, "Northshore sports has been teaching girls fastpitch for ten years. I believe the girls realize that I really care about their success and that seems to motivate them to work harder. All my gratification comes from the girls pitching well at a competitive level. For the last four years we have sent girls to pitch at division 1 in college."CLICK HERE to read the entire article. Ed. note: Jazzy is now pitching in college; Jackie and Sam are completing their senior year and are looking forward to their college softball careers.
