If you have any remaining questions about Stephanie Boshae’s abilities, keep them to yourself.
The Chavez Learning Academies softball coach has been a winner from the moment she stepped onto the Eagles campus. In her seven seasons there, Boshae’s teams have won two LA City Section Division II titles and a Division I title.
And they are perched to add another D-I trophy after knocking off defending champion San Fernando High, 4-2, on Tuesday, May 17, in the semifinal game played at San Fernando.
A pair of home runs by Rayne Corona, another solo shot by Audrey Campos, and a RBI single by Kailey Duran were enough to get the sixth seed Eagles into the championship game to be played on Saturday, May 21, at 11:45 a.m. at Cal State University Northridge.
They will face Legacy High of South Gate, also known as the Tigers. Legacy, the fifth seed, dispatched its neighborhood rival South Gate, 8-2, in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
“I don’t know much about Legacy yet,” Boshae said after the win over San Fernando. “I’ll be doing my research.”
It’s certain that the Legacy coaches will also be doing their homework on Chavez. They will discover the young and smallish roster (12-players, mostly sophomores) is scrappy and sneakily potent at the plate, with the ability to pile up runs in a flash. It can play excellent defense, and won’t panic in precarious situations.
The Eagles went undefeated in East Valley League play (12-0). And they are peaking at the right time. In their three playoff wins, they have outscored Chatsworth, Venice and San Fernando by a combined total of 34-2.
“They have chemistry,” Boshae said of her players. “This team enjoys being out here together. They enjoy [working with] the coaching staff. Our coaching staff is really good, very knowledgeable. The girls buy in and the girls work hard.”
That has been a hallmark of Boshae’s teams — Buy-In, and Work Hard. It’s one reason the Eagles have had only two losing seasons under her watch (and, honestly, you can throw out the 0-6 record from 2020 because of the pandemic). Why they won back-to-back City Division II titles in 2015 and 2016, and —since moving up to Division I — usually make it as far as the playoff semifinals.
Chavez may not always have the most talent. But Boshae typically gets the most out of the talent she has. And she knows how to play the motivation card.
Some spectators at the game Tuesday might have expected an easy win for San Fernando, considering how the Tigers waxed the Eagles, 18-8, in a nonleague game back on April 12. But Chavez clearly had not forgotten how that loss felt, and played with a chip on its shoulder the size of a concrete slab.
“As soon as I knew we were able to face San Fernando for the second time, I knew we had it,” said Boshae, a message she calmly but forcefully repeated several times in her postgame chat with her players. “When we played them during spring break, we were a little lackadaisical that day. Probably the first time their nerves got the best of them. This time around, they were ready.”
Expect them to be ready for Legacy on Saturday. And for the 2023 season. And beyond.
“It feels like that’s [why] we’re supposed to be, either in the semifinals or we end up in the championship game,” the coach said. “And it’s because we work hard.”
Buy-In and Work Hard.
Or as they call it at Chavez, Boshae Ball.
Also on Saturday at CSUN will be the Open Division championship game between El Camino Real and Kennedy, scheduled at 2:45 p.m.