NICEVILLE — More than the wins or trophy case full of district, region and state softball hardware, Danny Hensley remembers the faces behind his 23 years at the helm of Niceville High softball.
There was Kayla Collins, who’d never pitched a day in her life when Hensley took over the program. “I told her, ‘You’re going to have to pitch. We’ve got nobody else.'”
She and Hensley and her dad, Doug, sat on bucket after bucket of balls all fall and winter, and she’d go on to pitch every game her junior and senior year with a 57-5 record and a 0.37 ERA with 753 strikeouts in 403 innings. Niceville made state for the first time her junior year, beating Fort Walton Beach for the region title in a game that had to be moved to the NWF State College because it generated more than 1,000 spectators. Collins would go on to an illustrious collegiate career at Florida State University and Jacksonville State.
There was Christina Ramirez, just a freshman in 2011 summoned from the bullpen in the state championship game after ace Jessa Watts was targeted for 12 illegal pitches in the first inning. “I said to Christina, ‘Hey, you gotta go in and pitch. You’re our only hope.’ She went in there against a Bartow team that started eight Division I players and we beat them 2-1. She pitched an unbelievable game.”
There were assistant coaches Karen Jones and April Billingsley, the former with the program with 12 years and the latter currently in her 16th year, who have been “instrumental” in every milestone.
There was longtime mentor, friend and former Niceville High AD John Hicks, who took a chance on a former player for Jacksonville State and UT-Martin who served and played softball in the Air Force. “I’ll always be grateful for his belief in me.”
Then, most recently, there’s Natalie Miller. The junior entered in relief of ace Chloe Bailey on April 9 of a 17-3 win over Tate and was hit in the face by a liner off the bat. “It was one of the hardest line drives I’ve seen in my career, and she went down like somebody shot her with a high-powered rifle. I just sprinted out there because I was just scared to death that it was a serious injury. It was a tough injury, but she’s okay now. I mean, she’s not back yet, but thank God for face masks.”
That night, Hensley was worried about nothing else but Miller. That he collected win No. 500 was inconsequential.
“The celebration was definitely a delayed reaction,” Hensley said. “My wife had mentioned it to me days before about the milestone creeping up, but that particular night one of the scariest moments in my softball career took precedence. A win was secondary. It was just a laser beam that hit her in the face, so we didn’t mention (the 500th win) that night and actually kind of forgot about it till the next day when we playing and coach April and the girls suprised me during the introduction to our players. Then we were able to sit down and start talking about it and reflect back.
“I just feel incredibly thankful and blessed that I’ve been given this opportunity to be the head coach here at Niceville High School these past 23 years. And, I’m just so grateful for the many outstanding players I’ve gotten to coach and watch grow, not only into great softball players, but watch them grow into teachers and lawyers and doctors and principals. Heck, now I’m even coaching some of their kids.”
Wins have been secondary without sacrificing wins, though.
Hensley is currently 501-125 at the helm (yes, that’s an .800 win percentage). No team he’s ever coached has had a losing record. To boot, 17 of the 23 have won district titles, seven have won region titles and six have gone on to compete for state titles.
“I’ve always said the combination of going in the military and having the baseball experience of playing college ball, putting those two together with the self discipline and the experience of knowing the game is what’s helped me be successful,” said Hensley, who was a catcher before transitioning to first base. “And I’ve had a lot of help along the way with my assistant coaches.
“The thing I’m the proudest of is the consistency, the standards we’ve maintained over the years. Championships are great, but what I love is we haven’t had a losing season in the 23 years. Also, the hundreds of players that have been offered opportunities to get scholarships, and so they can continue their education. That has been so rewarding to me.”
Now 68 years old and with five young grandchildren, Hensley has discussed hanging it up. But he still loves the game, and the players love him. He won’t even broach the subject of retiring before he hits 70. Helping matters is the Eagles are currently 14-6 and ranked tops in District 1 and Region 1 and second overall in 5A despite dealing with myriad injuries.
“I feel good about this group,” Hensley said. “I mean, they’re very talented and the other thing I feel so good about is the fact that we had to overcome a lot of adversity right out of the gate. I think we’re starting to hit our stride. Our starting catching, Molly Mayfield, we only got her back last week. That’s the first time she’s played all season after an arm injury. We lost Briana Noles the second game of the season with a severe ankle injury where she tore three ligaments in her ankle. We just got her back three or four games ago, so that’s two big players we’re just getting back and they’re getting back into their groove. So we feel good. We lost some games early in the season that we were disappointed about, but we feel like we’re a much better ball club now. So we’re getting healthy and getting into the right mindset at the right time.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville’s Danny Hensley ‘thankful, blessed’ to celebrate 500 wins
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
