Houchins and Chiefs Have Lofty Goals For 2006
Emily Houchins is just one of the assets that the Kempsville Chiefs softball team will bring to competition in the Beach District this season. A seventeen-year-old senior, Houchins is one of the squad’s best hitters, with an impressive .375 batting average last season. “For me, the hitting part of the game is the most fun. I like fielding too, but hitting is something that I’ve put a lot of work into,” she says. Houchins does not need to be modest about her infield play; last year she made first-team All-State.
No doubt Houchins’s capable hitting skills and her poise at first base have resulted from constant practice. She plays on a travel team outside of Kempsville. Although she says that several of her coaches, family and fellow athletes influence her, one person in particular, Kelly Armstrong, the daughter of the traveling team’s coach, has provided guidance to Houchins throughout her softball career. As a Chief, however, Houchins focuses not only on hitting, but also on all manners of drills, new and old alike, that will help improve her technique. “Even though it’s really simple,” she says, “a basic soft-toss drill helped me a lot last year.”
Houchins is confident that the Chiefs’ hitting game, like last season will be decisive. Though it is still early in the season, Houchins recognizes that Kempsville is a fairly balanced team this season. “There is not one area that is lacking in strength more than another.” But she does not count out other, less visible factors that contributed to their success last year. “We truly bond as a team. We get along with one another and that helps with trust when we take the field,” she says.
Houchins’s perception of the team is one with which coach Dean Spruill wholeheartedly agrees. “We play as a team each time we take the field,” he says. “True, we had great stats, but the team unity was also a big factor last year.” Whatever it was, it worked. The Chiefs finally won the state championship last year after spending four of the past five years at state-level competition.
How did Spruill and the young ladies do it? Aside from being a unified team, the Chiefs had the skills necessary to stay ahead of their competitors. Last season, they were known for excellent pitching and hitting. The team’s batting average was .396. Add that to an on base percentage of .362 and an All-State pitcher, and there was the recipe for a state championship.
This year’s team, however, has changed. Spruill notes that the Chiefs have four seniors this year and a nice mixture of underclassmen, all of whom will play a pivotal role in the team’s success. “The seniors will provide great leadership this year and the younger athletes have always been willing to learn,” he explains. “I am encouraged by this year’s group.”
If the Chiefs can mesh well as a team, Spruill explains, then they should have few problems this season. “My goal is to repeat the state title,” he asserts. There will be plenty of other teams wishing to deny them that opportunity. Even though they won the state title, Kempsville placed second in the Eastern Region to Kellam, who no doubt seeks to win the state. First Colonial and Salem should turn a few head this season as well.
Spruill has effective ways of getting the Chiefs ready, however, for any team that wants to dethrone them in 2006. Conditioning is a huge part of training, explains Spruill. In fact, the softball players often practice form drills that the track team uses, thereby ensuring that they have a split second advantage when it is needed most. Throwing is also essential to maintaining flexibility and accuracy, something the Chiefs demonstrated profusely last year. Hitting drills, too, are part of Spruill’s formula for success. He will often throw golf ball or baseball-sized targets for the young ladies to hit in practice. “That way when they see the softball in competition,” he explains, “it looks about the size of a basketball.”
Kempsville has the makings this year of another state champion team. Houchins, as well as sophomore Inde Whitehurst and senior Becky Pfeil, can propel the team toward that end. They simply need to bring back to the field the determination that allowed them to defy expectations last year.
