The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
One of the nation’s top softball juniors has made her collegiate decision, as reigning Moore League Player of the Year and Long Beach Poly star Kiele Ho-Ching announced on Instagram last week that she’s verbally committing to the University of Oklahoma.
The Sooners are the top team in the nation currently riding a streak of four straight national titles. Those four came with St. Anthony product Tiare Jennings on the field and the program’s mastermind, Patty Gasso, has Long Beach roots as well having coached at LBCC.
“It’s always been my number one school and the school I really wanted to go to,” said Ho-Ching, rated the No. 3 recruit in the junior class nationally. “The visit was amazing, the coaches and the girls were all so welcoming. The resources and technology they had there was incredible, you can see why everyone there is so successful.”
Ho-Ching said she leaned on the legendary Jennings for advice.
“I talked to Tiare Jennings right after my visit about her experience,” she said. “Everything she was saying reminded me of how I felt on my visit. It was good to know that someone like me from where I’m from did it.”
As a highly-coveted shortstop recruit, Ho-Ching had her pick of where she wanted to go, with offers from UCLA, Oregon, Tennessee, Stanford, Clemson, and basically everywhere else.
“I took my visit to Oklahoma first and from there I compared any other school to it,” she said. “Where am I going to develop? UCLA was the school that came closest–the coaches and girls were amazing. The atmosphere and environment felt great–but ultimately, it was Oklahoma.”
Ho-Ching said that she anticipates playing in the middle infield at Oklahoma, but appreciated that Gasso told her she’d have to earn her place on the field.
With her college commitment settled, Ho-Ching said she’s looking forward to a great Spring season with Long Beach Poly. She and her older sister Tiare Ho-Ching (now at Arizona State) have been a big part of elevating Elizabeth Sanches-Martin’s program over the last few seasons. Poly has made deep playoff runs but haven’t won a league title since 2006.
“We have some really good freshmen, we’re all super pumped to get out there,” said Ho-Ching. “I’m super confident in the girls and coaches–we’re a young team but we’ve got talent.”
Among the returning talent for the Jackrabbits is Emoni Lam Sam, who recently committed to Cal.
