Euphoria, devastation and resiliency are the best ways to describe the emotions of Notre Dame High School senior Hailee Jantorno at the start of this school year.
Mold them into one word and it defines courage.
In early September, the Titusville resident attended an invitational softball camp at Marist College and played so outstanding that head coach Joe Ausanio offered her a scholarship on the spot.
“He was saying, ‘You’re an opportunity I can’t miss, you’re the steal of the century,’” Jantorno said. “He was telling me all the things that a player wants to hear.”
Jantorno and her mom, Lisa, returned home and talked it over with her dad, Joe. Ausanio also called Joe and the family quickly agreed that Marist was a good fit.
It took less than a week for joy to become grief, as Joe died of a heart attack while in Kansas on Sep. 12. The loss not only hit the Jantorno family, which includes daughter Hope and son Justin, but rocked the Hopewell Township athletic community as Joe was a popular youth coach in football, baseball and basketball.
Suddenly she had a bright future, but no father to share it with.
And yet, on Oct. 5, there was Jantorno dressed in a leprechaun tuxedo, greeting prospective future students at Notre Dame’s Open House. She had committed to the role prior to Joe’s passing and was not backing out now.
“There she was, smiling, saying ‘Welcome to Notre Dame!’ I can only imagine how tough that was,” Irish softball coach Tim Riley said. “But she agreed to do it, and she did it. She has a lot of courage. I really admire her courage at such a young age. It’s really impressive.”
Her mettle did not end there. She continued to maintain a 3.7 grade-point average, participate in a number of clubs and excel for the ND girls’ basketball team. By season’s end, she received one of three Christian Somma Courage Awards at the Colonial Valley Conference Basketball Awards Banquet. Coach James Martinos spoke in length about her positive impact on the team despite adversity.
“That was very special to win it,” said Jantorno, who was unable to attend the banquet. “It meant a lot to me, because it shows me that people see that I’m doing OK and I can go through this without having too much trouble.”
Riley echoed Martinos’ comments two weeks into the softball season, in which Jantorno was hitting .524 with 10 RBI and nine runs scored for the Irish.
“She comes to practice every day and has a great attitude; she’s always got a smile,” the second-year coach said. “Even with everything that’s gone on, she has good attitude every day. She’s our captain, she’s our leader. For such a young girl, it’s heroic the way she just continues on. She keeps moving, one foot after another. She just keeps pushing ahead, forging ahead. For such a young lady it’s very impressive to show the maturity of it all. She doesn’t bring it out to her teammates at all.”
Even on days when it’s killing her.
“There are days she struggles,” Riley said. “Sometimes I catch her (and say),’ ‘What’s going on?’ and she’ll be like ‘Ah, you know.’ I’ll say, ‘You want to just cut out?’ and she goes ‘No, I’m good, I’m staying.’ She’s a strong young lady.”
That strength comes mainly from one man. Jantorno forges ahead in order to show the world that Joe lives inside of her. She has become a walking, talking version of all the positives her dad had to offer.
“He was the one who was always goofing around with me; always making me laugh and making me smile,” Jantorno said. “At the same time he could be serious when he needed to be. When he passed away, I said, ‘Yes, I can be sad, but I need to go on with his presence, I need to show him in me.’ I needed to be that person for others to see him and not forget him. It makes me feel better because I know that he’s in me.”
While Joe will be missed, Jantorno still has the support of her mom, who coached Hailee in softball for six years on the Hopewell Renegade town team. Lisa saw immediately her daughter was a natural born shortstop.
“She was like ‘Hailee, you’re meant to be athletic,’” Jantorno said. “She always helped me in that aspect. She helped me be strong and built up my confidence a lot to make me a better player.”
And yet, through her sophomore year basketball was Jantorno’s number one sport. She played AAU basketball and did not join the Newtown Rock travel softball team until after 10th grade.
“High school softball was so much fun and I was like ‘I think I like playing softball more,’” she said. “I wanted to try travel ball, have fun, relax a little bit. I enjoyed it and it started growing on me.”
To the point where she wanted softball to be her collegiate future. Travel ball helped tremendously, as after seasons of batting .231 and .222, Jantorno blossomed last year. She hit .523 with nine RBI and 31 runs scored.
So the hitting is there, and defensively, Jantorno just keeps getting better, Riley said.
“She can make all the plays at shortstop,” Riley said. “She can come in, she goes in the hole, she’s got a great arm on the relay. She turns double plays very well. She’s outstanding covering pop-ups. She can run like a gazelle. There’s not much she can’t do on the defensive side.”
Jantorno’s exploits on the field have a dual purpose. They help Notre Dame win games and keep her from dwelling on Joe.
“It’s kind of like an escape from everything,” she said. “It keeps my mind off of things by playing the game I love. It’s like nothing can go wrong. I know my father would always watch me and he would always be proud of me, so I have nothing to worry about in that aspect.”
It’s pretty certain that if Joe is watching from above, he’s prouder than ever.
Notre Dame shortstop Hailee Jantorno maintains her focus even as a Neshaminy High School player runs across her path on April 24, 2018. Notre Dame lost the game, 8-2. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
