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Coral Springs Charter softball coach picks up 500th career win

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Mark Montimurro reached a milestone coaching victory when his Coral Springs Charter School softball team downed Monarch, 11-1, on March 4. It was his 500th career win in his 23 years as a head coach.

“It just means that I have been around a long time and been able to work with a lot of outstanding players throughout the years,” said Montimurr, whose record is 505-104, including 9-1 this season. He said winning the first state championship at Hollywood Christian in 2003 was probably his most memorable win.

“I had never experienced it before,” he said. “It was kind of a surreal moment. There was more pressure to win the second one. Being the first at [Coral Springs] Charter was also special. It was pretty emotional for us.”

Montimurro has won seven state high school championships with Hollywood Christian (2003, 2004) and five straight titles at Coral Springs Charter (2015-2019). They were gunning for a record sixth straight title with a 6-1 mark in 2020 before COVID-19 ended the season abruptly.

“That’s what makes it so difficult,” he said. “Most people don’t get to win one. Two is hard, three (consecutive) is almost impossible because no one had done it in Broward before until we did it and four is ridiculous and five is just silly.”
Mark Montimurro, right, goes over mechanics with Coral Springs Charter School senior Bridget Dunham at practice. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)

Coral Springs Charter School senior Bridget Dunham said Montimurro deserves the recognition.

“Out of all the coaches, he’s probably worked the hardest, been through the most and has been with this program forever,” said Dunham, 18, of Coral Springs. She has been on the varsity team at Coral Springs Charter since the eighth grade. “He has had our back through everything and is probably one of the best coaches I have ever played for.”

The Panthers are off to a 9-1 start this season with the lone loss coming at the hands of West Broward in the second game of the season. He said he believes they have a shot at winning a sixth straight title this year.

“If (junior pitcher) Brianna Godfrey has her A-game, and we are opportunistic offensively,” Montimurro said. “And we play the way we are capable of playing defensively, we can do it. Everything is going to have to go right for them.”

Montimurro, who lives in Coral Springs and is a health and PE teacher at Coral Glades High School, is also a coach at the Boca Raton-based Mo Vaughn Sports Academy run by the former Boston Red Sox All-Star. He started there last summer working with the VSA Lions 14-Under girls’ softball team, which is a mixture of eighth- and ninth-graders.
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