Hahnville head softball coach Kenny Vial was named the Coach of the Year in Class 5A after leading his squad to a 32-6-1 record that included an appearance in the state championship game.
“Being recognized is an honor, but I represent our whole staff and team by name,” Vial said. “Everything we accomplished this year was a culmination of years of sacrifice by my staff and countless hours of work by the kids. Receiving this makes me proud to know that our program and our coaching staff have reached a new height.
“We are now considered a school to beat in Class 5A.”
Vial added that his staff, which includes George Bode, Fallon Cancienne and Erin Crisham, were just as responsible for the team’s success last season as the players. He also credits his family with their support.
“I miss many of my boys’ games, but they and my wife understand my commitment and the effort I put into my softball team,” Vial said.
The Lady Tigers were extremely close to winning the school’s first state softball title in 2010. They led St. Thomas More for most of the championship game, but fell, 4-3, by way of a late-inning rally by the defending champs.
But even though Hahnville lost the title game, Vial said he has only been thinking about the positives.
“We had no on or off the field distractions and I have never had a year with no distractions,” he said. “Most distractions occur when a player or a parent puts themselves either above the team or before the team’s best interests, but because of the lack of issues, we were able to achieve and overachieve.”
Though 2010 was the first year that Vial led his team to the state title, the coach has had plenty of success in his eight years at Hahnville. Since his first year in 2003, Vial has a 216-70 record with six district championships and three appearances in the state tournament. His Hahnville squads have averaged 27 wins a year.
But Vial said the 2009 squad really put the Lady Tigers on the map.
“Last year we went undefeated in district and won the district championship,” he said. “That put us on the radar around the state. It opened people’s eyes to our program.”
While the 2010 squad wasn’t perfect in district, they did get on a roll towards the end of the season, which carried them to the state finals.
“When we were rolling we beat 4A champ Vanderbilt 6-1, 5A semifinalist Zachary 6-0 and No. 1 playoff seed St. Amant 7-1,” he said. “We got in the playoffs and were only four outs away from winning the whole thing. We were the surprise team – no one picked us to be in the championship.
“We knew we could beat anybody, and we almost did.”
Vial said that the most important quality about last year’s team was the chemistry.
“We have good players and I have a great coaching staff, but we had 20 girls that got along and pulled for each other to be successful,” he said. “We preach team and the kids get it. They know our success is directly related to how we support each other both on and off the field.”
And the team had plenty of fun along the way.
“We had a blast in the state tournament,” he said. “Winning makes everything fun, but having fun can also be the key to winning. Running onto the field after the last out of the Barbe game to get us into the finals was electric.”
While the players had great chemistry and had fun, they also worked extremely hard, which Vial said made them a joy to coach.
“We have a bunch of players that make things happen and they work year-round on their skills and push themselves to get better,” he said. “I continue to tell them that working hard gets you better, but getting older does not mean you are better.”
But experience is important, and Vial feels pretty good about his team’s chances at a title next season since they lose only two starters. However, one of those players is Lauren Candies, who Vial calls the “most consistent athlete” he has been around in 29 years of coaching.
“But we have very capable kids on this team that will get their chance to shine,” he said. “We have a few kids that would start for a lot of the teams we play, but it’s very hard to break into this lineup.
“They all know this is no average group of softball players.”
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