Star-studded Chino Hills softball has simple, lofty goals
CHINO HILLS, Calif. (BVM) – Expectations couldn’t have been higher for the Chino Hills High School softball team headed into the 2021 season.
Despite eight players signed to play at the collegiate level and a No. 1 ranking in the country according to MaxPreps’ preseason Top 25, the Huskies don’t pay much attention to outside noise.
“We try not to focus on rankings because as much as it is an honor, we need to go out and get it done on the field whether we are ranked 1 or 100,” head coach Kim Ensey said. “A job needs to be done. Our goals are to get better as a team every day, win the league and be the last team standing at the end of the season.”
Chino Hills has a combined 37-7 record over the last two seasons and was 9-2 last spring before the Covid stoppage. That was without Ensey, though, who was hired in August to replace Mike Southworth after 11 seasons.
Ensey previously coached at Cerritos, Edison and Santa Fe high schools, and said the support from the Chino Hills community has been exceptional.
“The support from the school, administration and families has been everything I expected and more,” Ensey said. “Given the circumstances related to Covid-19, I knew this year was going to be unlike anything I have experienced before. I went into it with an extremely open mind and have been overwhelmed by the support I have received.”
The presence of Covid-19 has made Ensey’s first year as the Huskies coach difficult to not only prepare for the season, but get to know her team. The pandemic “has caused a constant state of uncertainty and unknown,” Ensey said.
“The biggest part of preparation has been keeping the athletes hopeful when we were completely unsure if we were going to have a season,” Ensey said. “At times it seemed almost impossible but we continued to talk about the season as a certainty. Keeping a positive state of mind has been important.
“The pandemic has affected our on-field preparation because we were one of the last school districts to allow full practices. That, on top of trying to get to know all of our players, has been a definite struggle.”
But the talent on the Huskies’ roster is perhaps a rival to no other team in the state.
Headlining Chino Hills’ eight players signed to play college softball is four-year starting pitcher Kendall Mangel. The University of Nebraska commit and former MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year entered this season with a 58-9 career record and ERA of 1.48.
Kayla Chavez is committed to the University of Minnesota and has hit 23 home runs with a batting average of .406 and 85 RBIs through three seasons with the Huskies. Mykenzie Hanna is signed to Boise State University and the list of future college players at Chino Hills doesn’t end there.
Maria Luna (Western Illinois University), Sophia Nguyen (Claremont McKenna College), Natalie Moussa (Molloy College), Brianna Alamillo (Drexel University), Payton Kelly (Cal State Fullerton) and Ioana Soares (Park University) are all part of a loaded Huskies squad.
A boatload of talent doesn’t always immediately result in wins, especially when you open the season with the caliber of opponents that Chino Hills did.
The Huskies opened the season two weeks ago with an extra-inning loss to Esperanza then followed it up with 6-5 loss to Norco (the back-to-back CIF Southern Section D1 champions), two top 20 teams in California.
The 0-2 start to the season is no cause for concern for Ensey and the crew.
“I don’t feel we are off track,” Ensey said. “We started with two tough losses against historically great programs. We got better each day and the mistakes we made to lose were ones that I don’t think we will be making in another week or two.”
Chino Hills has since picked up its first win of the season, a 3-1 decision over Ramona High School, and it’s safe to expect plenty more this season.
“We need to continue to buy into our team first style of play and everyone continues to learn and execute their jobs during each pitch,” Ensey said.
