Holas Set to Join LA Sports Hall of Fame

[NewsCopy]

Former Ragin' Cajuns softball standout Kyla Hall is among the eight 2011 inductees who will enter the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. She will become the state's first women's collegiate softball player enshrined during the induction

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UL-SI

[NewsCopy]

High school football coaching great Don Shows, Louisiana-Lafayette softball All-America pitcher Kyla Hall and innovative LSU athletic director Thomas P. "Skipper" Heard complete the Hall's 2011 induction class. They will be officially enshrined Saturday ...

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[ATXCajun]

One of our greatest athletes of all time. A friend of mine while I was there. Heck of a coach too. The ONLY head coach of UH softball. She started that program from scratch.
igeaux.mobi

[BeauCajun]

Pitch the ball, Kyla Hall.

[NewsCopy]

That first choice is Kyla Hall. Hall, a three-time All-American — twice a first-team selection — was a record-setting pitcher for then-USL and led the Ragin' Cajuns to their first Women's College World Series in 1993. Former UL and current LSU coach ...

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[soccerdad]

Still the program's best all-around player.

[HoustonCajun]

Former UL softball great and current UH coach Kyla Holas was admitted to the Louisiana HOF per the article below in today's Houston Chronicle. Note how they referred to us as Louisiana-Lafayette and LL. The LL is yet another inappropriate reference to us. How many different references does that now make? Anyway, congrats to Coach Holas.

UH notebook: Softball coach Kyla Holas blazes a trail
By STEVE CAMPBELL
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 14, 2010, 10:02PM

James Nielsen Chronicle
Softball head coach Kyla Holas (right foreground) was 'fired up' when she met Taylor Lautner from Twilight.

Houston Cougars softball coach Kyla Holas was at the Louisiana Superdome on Sunday when she found herself rubbing elbows with cast members of Twilight. She met Taylor Lautner, aka Jacob Black, and snapped as many photos as she dared.

"I was pretty fired up about that," said Holas, who describes herself as "a huge fan" of the Twilight franchise.

Of course, it's worth noting why Holas was in New Orleans in the first place. She was an invited guest of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, which will induct her as part of the class of 2011.

Not the softball Hall of Fame. Not the Hall of Fame for her alma mater, Louisiana-Lafayette (then Southwestern Louisiana).

The Hall of Fame for all sports in Louisiana.

Understand, the Louisiana shrine has 13 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, six baseball Hall of Famers, nine basketball Hall of Famers, seven Women's Basketball Hall of Famers, 10 Olympic gold medalists, 30 College Football Hall of Famers, six world boxing champions, three College Baseball Hall of Fame honorees, and jockeys who have a combined 12 Triple Crown victories.

In the Twilightzone
"Our team might be more excited," Holas said "that I met Taylor Lautner."

Holas, a Pasadena native who is entering her 11th season running the UH program she built from scratch, will be the first softball inductee into Louisiana's Hall of Fame. She went 104-20 from 1991-1994 in college, making first-team All-American twice. Playing for Yvette Girouard, now the head coach at LSU, Holas led LL to a third-place finish at the 1993 College World Series. Holas had 56 shutouts, 17 no-hitters and five perfect games.

Joining Holas in the class of 2011 are former New Orleans Saints Morten Anderson, Vaughan Johnson and Buford Jordan, former major leaguer Todd Walker, former NBA player Donald "Slick" Watts, high school football coach Don Shows and former LSU athletic director Thomas "Skipper" Heard.

"As a player, you don't realize how people really have an influence on your career, so I'm very appreciative of all the people it took to have the career I did," Holas said. "It was a little shocking to learn I was the first softball player. I can think of so many greats who were deserving before me and since me.

"Any time you get to be the first at something, as an athlete and competitor, that's what we like. That really means something special."

Welcome addition
That's not the only reason Holas is walking around with extra bounce in her step these days. Last week, Holas announced the three-time All-Sun Belt Conference pitcher Donna Bourgeois is transferring to UH.

Bourgeois, who has a 69-24 record with a career earned run average of 1.35, received her release to transfer from LL last month for "personal reasons" and will be eligible to pitch for UH in 2011.

"We're trying not to put too much on her and let her come in and have the type of senior year that she'd like to have," Holas said. "But we do see that it's a big possibility and big option for us to really enhance our team."

When team victory leader Bailey Watts (14-11) was on the mound last season, the UH lineup had five freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors.

"I do think it's the right 10 people on the field at a time for us, and I don't know when I've been able to say that recently," said Holas, whose team went 30-24-1 last season. "We've always been two or three short of what we were needing.

"After what we saw in the fall, we're really excited. With the schedule we play this year, we could do some big things."

[Hammer58]

Well, since you live in Houston how about writing to them and link the SID's info on how the media should reference UL? They might give it more weight since you will have a Houston area return address.

[lcitsh]

_ Well, since you live in Houston how about writing to them and link the SID's info on how the media should reference UL? They might give it more weight since you will have a Houston area return address. _

If this is the first thing you could think of after reading this article, you really are blinded by inconsequential things.

[Turbine]

_ If this is the first thing you could think of after reading this article, you really are blinded by inconsequential things. _

After reading 3 previous articles on the subject, when reading the 4th, anomalies tend to jump to the fore. Besides if Shipley isn't in it, it's not much of a hall.

[lcitsh]

Big time props to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for voting a truly outstanding person and athlete into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. It's great to have Kyla's attributes brought back to remembrance and recognized for how exceptional she is. I hope those of us who watched her play will send congratulations to her and attempt to attend her induction ceremony in June.

[HoustonCajun]

_ Well, since you live in Houston how about writing to them and link the SID's info on how the media should reference UL? They might give it more weight since you will have a Houston area return address. _

Will do. This football season, the Houston Chronicle listed the Sun Belt Conference standings along with the Southland and SWAC. I wrote to them them that the SBC is 1A and needs to be listed with 1A conferences. The following week, that change was permanently made.