Kyla Hall-Holas was a fiery force on the softball fields at UL-Lafayette

Kyla Hall-Holas was a fiery force on the softball fields at UL-Lafayette

Ted Lewis, The Times Picayune, June 21, 2011
tlewis@timespicayune.com

In her 31 years as a collegiate softball coach at Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU, Yvette Girouard had more than her share of outstanding players — including 41 All-Americans.

But without hesitation, she declares Kyla Hall-Holas as the best she ever had.

"It was her determination, her grit, her just bring-it-on attitude," Girouard said of Hall-Holas, a dual-threat talent from 1991 to 1994 at UL-Lafayette, where she was a two-time first-team All-American. "Kyla wasn’t scared of anybody or anything.

"She wasn’t just our No. 1 pitcher, but she was also our four-hole hitter, which is something you don’t see very often. Kyla was an exceptional athlete."

Hall-Holas’ talents and contributions are being recognized this week when she becomes the first female softball player inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

The ceremonies will be held Saturday night in Natchitoches.

"It’s a tremendous thing to be remembered for what you did," said Hall-Holas, who has been the head coach at Houston for the past 11 years. "Especially when it was something you loved to do."

That, everyone agrees, Holas-Hall did.

Growing up in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, Texas, where she participated in just about every sport available before concentrating on softball in her last two years in high school, Hall-Holas said she combined the athleticism of her mother, Virginia, with the workaholic mind-set of her father, Larry.

"I was a pretty good athlete, but I always felt like I had to push myself," Hall-Holas said. "I’d do whatever it took to get better."

That included almost obsessive watching of game film in college.

And it carried over to pushing her teammates as well, a foreshadowing of her career as a coach.

Once teammate and fellow All-American Lynn Britton was having trouble hitting the curve, and Hall-Holas volunteered to stay after practice, throwing Britton nothing but curves until she caught on.

Finally, at the end of the session, Britton said something Hall-Holas didn’t like. Hall-Holas retaliated by plunking her in the back with a ball.

Those were halcyon days at UL-Lafayette. The program, founded by Girouard a few years earlier had only recently reached full-funding status, and Girouard was able to put together a team good enough to reach the Women’s College World Series in 1993. The Cajuns finished third.

The key, Girouard said, was signing Hall-Holas.

"We’d been pretty good, but if you can get a great pitcher, then the rest will follow," she said. "Kyla put us over the top."

In the circle, Hall-Holas went 104-20 in her career, the best winning percentage (.839) in state history and one of the nation’s top 15 marks.

She had a lifetime earned-run average of 0.50. Of her 104 career victories, more than half (56) were shutouts, and she had 17 no-hitters, five of them perfect games.

And as if that weren’t enough, Hall-Holas compiled a career .301 batting average.

"I didn’t start out as a pitcher," she said. "They put me just about everywhere.

"Pitching was just something else I was able to do."

The UL-Lafayette softball teams were popular, drawing big crowds and becoming the toast of the town.

"The community was really behind us, and that was something we enjoyed wholeheartedly," Hall-Holas said. "Going to the World Series allowed our fans to become legendary on a national scale.

"To be part of something like that is something you really can’t appreciate until you step away from it, but we really did."

Hall-Holas’ playing career ended after she failed to make the U.S. National Team for the 1996 Olympics.

By then, Hall-Holas had begun her coaching career.

She started out at Northern Illinois, where she met her future husband, John, who was serving as the team manager while working as a graduate assistant. The couple has three children.

From there, Hall-Holas spent three years at Florida before Houston Athletic Director Chet Gladchuck hired her to start the program in her hometown.

The results have been outstanding.

Starting from scratch, Hall-Holas has produced five NCAA Tournament teams, including this season’s club, which went 44-18 and reached the super regionals, falling to Oklahoma State in three games for a berth in the WCWS. The Cougars reached the super regional by beating Hall-Holas’ alma mater in the Austin Regional, gaining a measure of revenge for a super regional loss to the Cajuns in 2008.

"Obviously, we were happy to advance," Hall-Holas said of this year’s victory. "But I wished it could have been against somebody else."

While Hall-Holas’ coaching success is of little surprise, Girouard, who will be presenting Hall-Holas on Saturday, did have doubts that her former player’s demanding nature would serve her well as a coach.

"It can be hard when you’re coaching players who aren’t as good as you were," Girouard said. "I’ve had to remind her about being patient.

"But Kyla wants to help them so much, she’s managed to make that adjustment."

Hall-Holas acknowledges that she has had to change with the times.

"I gave up a long time ago on finding kids just like me," she said. "This group we had this year was pretty happy-go-lucky, but they still had the common denominator of wanting to win.

"We had fun, but it took a lot of work to get them as far as they did."

So much was she into the work of coaching her team, Hall-Holas said, it was only in the last few days that she has given any thought to Saturday’s induction.

"I’m such a workaholic," she said. "My mother and husband finally had to sit me down and make me get them (the Hall of Fame) the stuff they needed and to think about what I’m going to say.

"I hear it’s a fun weekend. I’m really looking forward to it."