Kaidance Till has the nickname “Punk” but she’s anything but a trouble maker.
Well, unless you’re a pitcher in the other dugout, perhaps.
Kaidance made the 2025 Extra Elite 100 rankings (in retrospect, she should’ve been ranked much higher!) and also the All-Summer Team at 14U after she hit .474 with 70 hits including six home runs and 29 doubles and scored 58 runs in 54 games for Coach Tony Michalski’s Beverly Bandits Premier 06 team.
Last year, the second baseman led Coach “Chow’s” team in pretty much every offensive category as the Bandits finished 5th at PGF Nationals and this summer won the PGF Midwest Regional 14U title as Kaidance hit a sizzling .571 (16-for-28) with nine extra base hits and eight RBIs.
At the Top Gun Invitational in Kansas City, she was even more in a zone, batting a remarkable .739 (17-for-23) with four home runs, seven doubles, 12 RBIs and 14 runs scored.
She comes from a strong background of hitters: her father Brock played professionally with the Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Rays for more than seven years and her mother Heather was a former collegiate softball and volleyball standout at Monmouth. The parents are also owners of HitLab, a training facility in East Peoria, Illinois, where Dad trains the batters and Mom works with the pitchers.
“Kaidance is every coach’s dream,” begins Coach Michalski. “She can handle anything thrown her way at the plate. As a leadoff hitter she has the knack for getting on base whether it’s slapping, swinging or bunting; she was our offensive leader all year long and the stats don’t lie! She set the table all summer long as our Bandit team tried to play as many of the top older 05 teams we could face in today’s environment.”
Defensively, Coach Chow raves about the infielder’s abilities too.“She’s an absolute stud!” he gushes. “Kaidance always makes the routine play but also makes plays beyond her years. With a cannon for an arm, she’s fully capable of playing anywhere in the infield.”
He finishes with praise with her competitive fire and desire to improve each time she takes the field.
“Attitude wise, this young lady feels she has something to prove and I love it!” the championship coach continues. “She leads by example and I couldn’t ask for more. She knows there are times when she’s gonna get coached up, but there are also times when she’s gonna get loved up! And she handles it well. The work ethic Kaidance has is second to none: she’s always taking extra swings, extra ground balls, extra work and, like I said earlier, she is truly a coaches’ dream!”
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
Name: KAIDANCE TILL
Hometown/State: Germantown Hills, Illinois
Grad Year: 2025
Positions: MIF
Club Team: Beverly Bandits Premier Futures 14U
School (City/ST): Germantown Hills Middle School
GPA: 4.0
Honors/Accomplishments: 2020 Extra Elite 100; Extra Inning Softball 2020 All-Summer Team selection
Other Sports? Basketball and Volleyball
Nickname: “Punk”
Camps Attended: I plan on attending some Power 5 school camps starting this winter!
Scroll down to read more on this fast-rising talent who says she has to have a special drink on game days!
