Kyla Hall hasn’t changed much from her days as an All-American softball pitcher at UL.

She’s Kyla Holas now, and she’s coaching the University of Houston instead of playing, but you get the feeling she would suit up today if given the chance.

Holas will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 25, the first in her sport to be so honored, but she downplays her role as pioneer.

"When you’re in the heat of the moment, that kind of thing doesn’t seep in," Holas said, one day after coaching Houston past her alma mater in NCAA Regional play. "It’s the kind of thing you realize in hindsight.

"It (pioneer status) was never my intention. It was what I loved to do."

She still loves growing with the game, years after her playing career.

"You keep learning," Holas said. "You have to find different ways to reach athletes. You have to get to know them and understand them. As long as they’re learning the game, you can be flexible. But there are certain things that have to be done correctly.

"If you do those things, you can do other stuff that’s yours. You have to be flexible, yet firm."

It’s the flexible part that some former teammates might find amusing.

"The players around her played better, because she demanded that they did," said Yvette Girouard, who created the UL program and retired this year as LSU’s coach. "If you dropped the ball, you’d better field it."

Girouard recalled one event that illustrated Hall’s legendary intensity.

"Lynn Britton couldn’t hit a curve, even though she was a four-time All-American," Girouard said. "So one day, Kyla threw her curves until Lynn learned how to hit it. They worked until we turned the lights on at the park.

"Finally, Lynn hit it. But then she said something about it, and Kyla hit her in the back with the ball! Kyla wanted to raise that performance, and she was willing to help, but she’s still got that fire inside her."

That fire hasn’t changed. Holas led her Houston team to its second NCAA Super Regional in 2011, capping a 10th straight winning season for a UH program she built from scratch, much as Girouard did at then-USL.

The latest Cougar team has tested flexibility for the famously intense coach.

"This team had to do a little growing," Holas said. "They are a loose, fun-loving bunch, and that wasn’t the type any of us coaches were as athletes. We were aggressive. If you punch us, we punch back. At first we didn’t realize this difference. These kids love the game, and still have fun."

Tempramental differences aside, the Cougars have a perfect role model in Holas, a three-time All-American (twice first team) and led the Ragin’ Cajuns to the school’s first appearance in the Women’s College World Series and a third-place finish in 1993.

In Hall’s four-year career from 1991-94, she compiled a 104-20 record (.839) for the best career winning percentage in state history and one of the nation’s top 15 all-time marks. She compiled a career 0.50 ERA, including an 0.23 mark in 1992 which ranks in the NCAA’s all-time top 20, when she had a 30-4 record. She topped that with a 31-3 record as a senior in 1994, which also ranks in the NCAA’s top 20 all-time marks.

The Cajuns had a combined 155-24 record her final three years, and she had a win over top-ranked Arizona in the 1993 WCWS. Hall also hit third in the batting order and ranked second on the team in hitting as a senior.

More than half of her career wins (56 of 104) were shutouts, and she holds school records for no-hitters (17) and perfect games (five).

"She was a bulldog," Girouard said. "She had a take-no-prisoners attitude. She was an incredible athlete who could hit in the No. 4 hole for us. She could have been a shortstop. She was an athletic pitcher, not just a thrower. She simply refused to lose.

"She was one of the premier pitchers in the game, and I think these days she would be just as good. She’s still the best player I ever coached."

"I remember being obsessive about the details of the game," Holas said. "I would study film and break things apart until Girouard would tell me to stop. I truly think that separates good from great. That negative, breaking that down — that’s where I live, where I work. I want to make sure it doesn’t happen.

"I used to love to practice. Working hard is exciting to do. I loved and hated every minute of it. Even now, I can’t wait for practice."

The Cajuns’ breakthrough to the national stage was not repeated in 1994, reflecting the transitory nature of success.

"That was clearly the high point," Holas said of the 1993 squad. "I wish we could have repeated in my senior year. No matter how many times you go, the World Series is special, unique. That experience changes lives.

"Getting there is not something that can be measured or boxed. It takes the ‘it’ factor, a timely hit, the right 10 people in the lineup. It’s not always the 10 you’d choose, but it’s the right 10. When it’s right, you know it."

Holas majored in psychology at UL, a perfect field for getting inside athletes’ heads. She never had a doubt about her own mind.

"She wasn’t too tolerant of players who couldn’t match her talent," Girouard said. "I told her, ‘You’re special; you have to be patient with others.’ I’m sure it’s still hard for her. I guess she’s found that balance."

As long as her players play the game the right way, balance can be a part of the game for Holas.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for Kyla’s Athletic Network Profile.

Act NOW for tickets:  Induction dinner tickets and golf entries are available online at the www.lasportshall.com website for the 2011 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration upcoming June 23-25, with UL Ragin’ Cajun softball great Kyla Hall Holas joining three New Orleans Saints stars — Morten Andersen, Vaughan Johnson and Buford Jordan — headlining this year’s inductees.