Chaneyville winning championships, awards as one of the nation's only all-girls traveling baseball team
CHICAGO (CBS) – A local baseball team is winning championships with support from the White Sox.
CBS 2's Matt Zahn told us Friday what makes this group especially noteworthy.
The Chaneyville team is a 13-and-under travel baseball team with athletes from the Chicago area and a few from Indiana. It's an all-girls team. And it's a great opportunity for these girls who prefer playing baseball over softball, or maybe other sports as well.
"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a gymnast, I never thought about playing baseball, but I was playing around with my brothers and finally just fell in love with baseball. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life," says Demi Chaney
Demi Chaney is a big part of one of the only all-girls traveling baseball teams in the country. It's been a nice change for these players, who were used to being the only girl on otherwise all-boys teams.
"We get a lot of supporters, but also get a lot of people who say, "No." It helps them to be mentally tough when people say you should not be somewhere. That should make you go back and really work hard to prove that you should be. So, that's why we are kind of hard on them. We push them, we don't baby them. These girls work hard and they belong out here if this is what they want to do," says head coach Fred Chaney.
"I really have a good bond with all the boys on my team, but sometimes I hear it in the other dugout, 'oh, is that a girl? She's not going to be that good" and stuff. It really doesn't phase me because I know what I can do," says Amira Hondras.
Amira Hondras is the first girl ever in the White Sox Amateur City Elite, better known as the ACE program. The Sox are also big supporters of Chaneyville, providing their uniforms and funding tournaments. After winning a national title last year, Chaneyville nearly pulled off the repeat, falling in the championship game this year in the country's largest girls' baseball tournament in Arizona.
"At the end of the day the game of baseball is the game of baseball.. so that's what we strive to teach no matter what gender is playing it. The game is to be played a certain way and the game to be played at excellence and to understand the game and be a student of the game," adds Fred Chaney.
"Everybody is pretty fun. We play loose. Everybody hangs out with each other laughing and joking," says Hondras.
"When you talk about girls playing baseball and you talk about all the different doors that women have knocked down in our society, this is one game that has yet to kind of adapt to that and I think these girls are showing and proving why girls can play this game at a high level," says Troy Williams, Chicago White Sox Manager of ACE & Community Baseball Programs.
Demi is certainly doing that. Earlier this year, the Homewood teenager was named MVP of the Major League Baseball Trailblazers series. She dreams of playing in the big leagues someday, but first..
"Right now my main goal is to make the high school team, start at second base. I want to go to the same high school as my brother. He's a middle infielder just like me. he plays shortstop, so I would like to start at second base with my brother and play in the middle infield with him," says Demi.
At the pro level now you're seeing women coaches, women scouts, and women working in the front office. If they can do those jobs they can do it on the field, as well," adds Williams.
Chaneyville is taking a short break now after returning from Arizona but plans to play again in the fall.
If want to help with their travel expenses or sponsorship, visit the team's GoFundMe here.