Eli Miera takes over Valencia Jags softball

Tomé

Nearly four months after Kayla Young resigned as Valencia High School softball coach, her replacement has been named.

Bosque Farms resident Eli Miera takes over a program he has had an eye on.

“If that Valencia job opens up, I’m going to apply for it,” Miera told his wife several years ago.

Miera spent the last three years as an assistant coach at West Mesa, where he learned “what not to do as a head coach.”

As a Yucca Little League board member, Miera has seen softball and baseball “booming,” and wants to “put an imprint from the lower age group, all the way up through their high school days.”

Replacing standout pitcher Neveah Bracamonte will be a challenge.

“The first few practices everybody is going to pitch and we’ll see what we have,” he said. “That’s going to be our biggest hurdle, replacing such a dominant pitcher.”

Miera says that while he loves to win, “If I can get some of my players to play at the next level, that’s my goal, my priority.”