Oaks Christian hires Cheyenne Coyle as second softball coach
Cheyenne Coyle briefly spent some time with her predecessor.
On campus as the athletics assistant at the middle school, Coyle shared the field with Pete Ackermann in the fall, before the program’s architect died in December.
“He definitely was acting as a mentor to me,” Coyle said. “I would go into his office and chat the game with him.”
Coyle will now pick up where Ackermann left off as the second head coach in Oaks Christian softball history, the school announced Tuesday.
“He had a lot of experience and was a legend in this community,” Coyle said of Ackermann. “You can see the impact of what he’s done here.”
An All-State shortstop at Chatsworth High, Coyle earned All-Tournament honors at the College World Series as a freshman at Florida in 2011 and was second-team All-American at Arizona State in 2014.
“I was pretty intense,” said Coyle, who was drafted 13th overall by the Chicago Bandits in the 2014 National Professional Fastpitch draft. “I wanted to win. … The goal of every game is to win, but you have to do so with grace. I’ve learned over the years how to calm down.”
She was a graduate assistant at Auburn University in 2016, when the Tigers reached the final of the College World Series, and an assistant coach at Austin Peay State University for two seasons.
More:Peter Ackermann remembered as more than just a highly successful coach at Oaks Christian
Coyle has recently been an assistant coach at Sierra Canyon School and Garden Grove-Pacifica High and served as the head coach at Harvard-Westlake during the pandemic.
“Her experience as a coach at both the collegiate and high school level, as well as her own collegiate and professional playing experience, makes her the perfect fit to continue to push our program to the next level,” Oaks Christian athletic director Brad Cook said in a news release.
Coyle was also an assistant coach for the Chinese national team ahead of the 2020 Olympics and coached travel ball with the Orange County Batbusters for the past two years.
Coyle inherits a team that was 31-1 last year, reached the sectional semifinals and won the CIF-State Division 1 regional championship.
Although Micaela Kastor, The Star’s All-County Softball Player of the Year, has graduated and begun her collegiate career at Notre Dame, the Lions return nearly a full team, including third baseman Rylee McCoy, shortstop Justine Lambert, catcher Heaven Oliva, and outfielders Lily Knox, Anahi Arreola and Liesl Osteen.
“Obviously, it’s a very talented group of girls,” Coyle said. “They know the standard that we’re going to try to maintain here. That’s the standard coach Pete Ackermann set for so many years.
“They’re going to work hard and enjoy the high school experience.”
Joe Curley covers softball for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Oaks Christian hires Coyle as second softball coach
