An Outstanding Year for Team 7
Head coach Marissa Young looks back at a record-setting campaign
David Shumate, GoDuke the Magazine
In this edition of GoDuke The Magazine, Voice of the Blue Devils David Shumate sits down with softball head coach Mariss Young. Their conversation delves into Young's reflections on playing at the Women's College World Series, hosting the ACC Tournament and pivotal moments during the season.
David Shumate: You’ve probably been asked this from a million different directions, and I know it’s relatively fresh with the season just wrapping up, but when you look back and put in perspective what this year has meant to you, how do you try to put it in context?
Marissa Young: Man, honestly, I’m still trying to find the words. There’s just so much joy and at the same time it has been a reward for all of the hard work and the sacrifices over the last, you know, eight years, really, since the program started from scratch and everything that goes into getting it to this point. This has been the goal from day one, to be playing at the Women’s College World Series, but you also have to think about everything we’ve had to overcome. From navigating the pandemic and then winning our first ACC championship to, you know, my personal struggles this year, having to take time away. We’ve had new staff added to the program and reached new heights with our senior class. There’s just so much joy. It’s just so rewarding to see it all come together.
DS: You’ve talked a lot about when things first started, you kind of had to sell a vision, right? There were no facilities, there weren’t practice areas and things like that. I know everyone has goals, but I’m curious, did you have a timeline in terms of when you thought it was possible to achieve what you have at this level? I imagine this is maybe even ahead of schedule in terms of what you could have imagined, being at the World Series in just the program’s seventh season.
MY: I’m a competitor. I want to win. But I also thought it would probably take two full recruiting classes to get there. So yeah, we are ahead of schedule and I’m just really happy that the girls that chose Duke Softball before it was anything, they got to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
DS: I wanted to ask you about a couple of the standouts on the team and then maybe get into some of the pivotal moments from the season. Probably an obvious place to start, but Claire Davidson, the ACC Player of the Year, with the .436 batting average, all the doubles, the 18 home runs, the RBIs. What has she meant, not just this year, but to the program overall?
MY: I think that she really embodies her story, and her journey embodies what Duke Softball is all about. It’s a lot of girls that were unsure of what softball would look like for them. They wanted to play at a high level. They wanted to go to a school with a great education, but they weren’t the standout superstars from day one. But through their hard work and commitment and love of this program and development, they became that.
She’s going out on top with all of the accolades and the spotlight she deserves, and she’s also gotten the degree she’s dreamed of — while being able to do all of that with some of her best friends.
DS: Then obviously there’s the battery, so to speak. When you think about Kelly Torres, what she’s done behind the plate, and Jala Wright being the Pitcher of the Year in the ACC — that tandem and what they’ve been able to accomplish this year, how would you put that into perspective?
MY: Yeah, it’s incredible. Hat’s off to Jala, being a transfer, she didn’t have a great start as a pitcher at Michigan State, but she gave us the opportunity to give her a second chance to do it at home (she’s from Charlotte, N.C.) in front of her family as a hometown girl, it’s just a really special story. She’s been through a lot losing her grandparents last year and trying to fill the shoes of being the ace on the staff after Peyton St. George. And again it’s just another great story of somebody who had a journey through adversity, trusted the process and came out on top.
I’m just super thankful for the relationships that we’ve developed with each of the players. They’ve really let us, let me as a coach into who they are. It wasn’t just softball, it’s so much bigger than that. I know she’s super thankful for Duke and her second chance at softball here.
Kelly Torres, man, I just remember her as a little sixth grader coming to camp, like, she probably still had braces on (laughing). Kelly’s just so excited for life and to become our starting catcher day in and day out and how hard she worked to be able to throw runners out and just doing everything that she does. She’s just such a fireball, and so worthy of a national spotlight from somebody who just was a little girl who wanted to play softball at Duke.
DS: I want to get your take on a couple of moments this year, specifically in the postseason. Just hearing you talk about the different key contributors on the team, it certainly feels like grit, toughness, whatever term you want to use, is kind of built into this team. You look at the ACC Tournament for example, the two extra-inning wins, coming from behind after trailing Florida State 3-0 in the championship game. It feels like this is a team that doesn’t shy away from any challenge, any adversity. When it looks like maybe it’s not going to work out, they just kind of work their way through it. But let’s start with the ACC Tournament. Tell us what that week was like, obviously culminating in the championship.
MY: Looking back on it, we didn’t talk about it much, but this group had a lot of pressure in knowing that we’re hosting the ACC Tournament at home for the first time. You want to win it. You’re supposed to win it, and they never let that enter their mind. They never played tight or tense or afraid to lose. They were just excited as a group to go out, to compete and to continue to show the world that Duke Softball is a powerhouse. I was really in awe of them and how they were able to handle the pressure of hosting and winning the ACC Tournament at home, and I really felt like from there moving forward, nothing could stop them but them.
DS: Winning that title is one of several pivotal moments for the program the last few years, including going to the College World Series. Amongst those, have you had a moment the last few years where you’re like, okay, we’ve arrived. I know that’s not a great way to put it, but I imagine there’s been little moments along the way where you look and see what it’s grown into over the last few years. I’m just curious what those moments have been for you.
MY: Sure. I would say this year it was definitely the Sunday game at Florida State. We won on Friday by a lot. Saturday we got punched. We thought it was going to be easy and they came back and punched and took game two. Sunday was, again, backs against the wall. We talked about how good we are, but we knew if we didn’t come out on top, the world was going to say, you know, Duke’s not as good as they thought. So, there was a lot of pressure on them that Sunday to come out with a win in Tallahassee and it’s a tough, tough environment to win in.
Just the way that they competed in that moment and came out on top, I was like, “You know what? This team is something special.” Then there was another one the weekend we played Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech has been a phenomenal team both offensively and in the circle. To be able to take all three games from them in the series, I don’t think anybody in the conference expected that. But that was their mission, and they did it. So yeah, I think those little moments along the way of just seeing when their back was against the wall, they made the choice to be tough and show that resilience and I knew it was going to pay off for us in the postseason.
DS: I don’t want to get too much into the ridiculous of the seeding going into the postseason, but you end up going on the road in the Super Regionals to take on Missouri. You just talked about having your backs against the wall at different times, and you end up in a decisive game three, winner goes to the College World Series. I wanted to look at that game from a couple of different angles. One, what Cassidy Curd was able to do, obviously shutting down Missouri, and then all of a sudden you have a home run hitter in the postseason with D’Auna Jennings. She had just hit her first of the season the previous weekend, and then she put the first run on the board in extras with her second of the year in the top of the ninth in a game you would go on to win 4-3. What were some of your biggest takeaways from that incredible game.
MY: Yeah, obviously there was a lot of disappointment not being able to host when you feel like you’ve shown what you can do all year, but then on the flip side you put your coaching hat on and you say, you know, this could really benefit us long term. Try to take the positive from it. So going on the road to play at Missouri was, to me, a blessing in disguise. It was a new environment for us, a big environment, the largest crowd we had ever played in front of, and I knew in that moment that if we could get through, it would be the preparation we needed to get to the World Series.
What I’ve loved about our team all year is that on any given day, it’s somebody different stepping up and coming up big for us. I knew that D’Auna was due, she’s one of our grittiest players. You may get her out twice, but that third time she’s going to find a way. But I did not expect it to be a home run (laughing). I knew she was going to come up big, but the home run definitely surprised all of us. It gave us that lift, just that belief in continuing to fight for each other.
I know we didn’t host but it ended up being a great experience for us to go on the road and play in that environment in Missouri.
DS: The look on her face was incredible as he was rounding the bases, just an incredible moment. Now, taking a step back, I was struck by something you said after this remarkable run. When you think of teams that get to the College World Series for the first time, it can be the culmination of a senior class, and I’m not saying that there aren’t seniors that were a big piece of this, but you talked about the sustainability within the program, the sophomores, the freshmen that were a big piece of this as well. How have you been able to do that - build it, have incredible success and it seems like it’s still teed up for your program to take another step forward next year?
MY: I think it has a lot to do with our player development as a coaching staff. We really pour into developing our players on and off the field. They’re more to us than just, you know, their batting average and their performance. I think that fosters an environment where they continue to grow and get better, even if they’re not on the field. They are ready when their number’s called. They are ready for bigger roles the next year when somebody graduates because of how we’ve made them important and how we’ve continued to develop them.
You know, the sophomore class has really been a big piece of that. They came in and had big roles as freshmen, continued to elevate as sophomores and now they’re going do the same for this next group of freshmen that are coming in next year.
DS: I know this year has been a very personally challenging year with everything that your family has been through with your husband James suffering a heart attack last spring and all of the challenges you guys have faced as he continues to work his way back. James was able to go on the road with you for the first time this season to Oklahoma City to be with the team at the College World Series. How would you describe for you personally, maybe it’s hard to even put into context or words what this journey has been like the last year, the ups and downs, but then obviously the elation I would imagine of having him with you guys again.
MY: It’s been so difficult, and obviously life throws something at you that you’re not expecting, and you’ve got to figure out really quickly how to adjust and pivot. Having softball kind of taken away from me during the fall because I had to focus on him was very challenging, but it gave me such a deeper love and appreciation for what I do and the people that I get to do it with every day. I think it helped kind of clear your lenses of what should be the focus, what should be important.
So, I came back in the spring and I did not have as much time as I’d love with the team, but I felt like I had a deeper sense of what should be important, what my focus needed to be. The journey was also really difficult because I felt torn on a day-to-day basis of, you know, being able to come to work and life felt normal, then you go back home, and you realize things are so far from what normal was. So having to adjust to what normalcy is for us as a family now is really difficult.
But, you know, James absolutely loves Duke Softball and wouldn’t miss it for the world. So for him to be able to travel, as difficult as it was on everyone, to get there and to be there to see what we’ve sacrificed and worked for as a family all this time, see it personally at the World Series was really special.
This interview originally appeared in the 15.11 issue of GoDuke The Magazine – June 2024. Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke The Magazine is published for Duke Athletics by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707. To subscribe, join the Iron Dukes or call 336-831-0767.