Gee-Gees Softball Star Happy to Stay Home

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 1/24/09 7:09:54 PM 
From:  scottsearle(at)rogers.com 
   
Subject:  Gee-Gees Softball Star Happy to Stay Home  
    

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Softball player happy to stay home 
 by Dan Plouffe 
View all articles from Dan Plouffe
Article online since December 12nd 2008, 9:47 
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Jillian Taylor won multiple MVP awards for the Orléans Rebels
and Ottawa Gee-Gees. Photo supplied 
Softball player happy to stay home 
Orléans Rebels softball player Jill Taylor is expecting this
Christmas season won’t be quite as chaotic as the last one. 
At this time last year, she had settled into her role as a pitcher
for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and was finally getting
her education on track after she was set back due to a failed
attempt at playing for a small Florida school on an athletic
scholarship.

But then Taylor got a call on Dec. 28, 2007 asking her if she
would join Simon Fraser University – the home of many Canadian
national team players – for the winter semester and their spring
season. And she’d have to be there in about a week.

“I thought, ‘That is such a huge opportunity and I would love
it,’ but it was really overwhelming,” says Taylor, who flew out
to Vancouver to see the campus and practice with the softball
team for a week, but returned to Ottawa for the second week of
school. “It was the shock of not being prepared at all to move
away. (The offer) was a huge compliment – I felt really honoured
– but it was not something I could fully commit to.”

Taylor was coming off a season where she was named the Gee-Gees’
team MVP, and because she was registering for classes late, none
of her courses would transfer back to Ottawa U. Although she
says the Simon Fraser offer would have been perfect in her first
year, Taylor decided it wasn’t the right fit or the right time
to make that big a change.

“I think Jill was really hurt by growing up in Ottawa – Ontario’s
one of the best provinces for ball, but the top teams are all
from Toronto,” says Gee-Gees coach Scott Searle, who also coaches
for the Rebels and is a teacher at St. Peter Catholic High School.
“She lacked exposure and elite competition, so I think that hurt
her development at the beginning.”

It wasn’t until Taylor started competing at the university level,
and the Rebels began drawing players from as far as Pembroke
and Kingston, that Taylor really blossomed and attracted more
attention. This past summer, Taylor was named MVP of the provincial
under-23 championships as the Rebels earned the first trip to
nationals for an Ottawa team in a decade. She followed that up
with her second Gee-Gees team MVP award in the fall, and also
took home top pitcher honours from the Ontario university finals.

“With the university team and expanding the Orléans team, she’s
been able to compete against better teams and she’s really been
able to bring her game up,” Searle says, pegging Taylor as one
of the best five or six players in Canada who aren’t on the national
team. “She’s one of the most dominant players in Ontario now.”

Taylor, who was also the Gee-Gees’ top hitter, doesn’t expect
she’ll get another chance to make it to the national team level
as a player, but she’s quite eager to help the next generation
try to reach those goals. Taylor has helped out with clinics
– for free, Searle notes – and can frequently be found at the
ballpark, often with her dad, teaching youngsters how to pitch.

“I just love working with kids,” says Taylor, whose Starbucks
job four days a week starts at 5 a.m. “I think it’s important
for kids to have a positive coach who’s knowledgeable in what
they’re doing.”

Taylor hasn’t had time to coach a team of her own yet, and for
now she’s hoping that her playing career with the Gee-Gees can
continue – she’s applied for teacher’s college at the school
for fall 2009.

“I love the Gee-Gees. I’m really sad that it could be my last
year,” Taylor says, noting trips in rented vans to tournaments
were her favourite memories – even when they got lost in places
like Deseronto without directions, cell phone service, gas, or
any sign of life. “Even though I play for softball, when I think
back to Gee-Gees, I think of all the fun we’ve had and the friendships
we’ve made through those trips.” 
 
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