DeAnn Young making a name for herself at OSU

By Kevin Hampton
Corvallis Gazette-Times

You won’t see it in DeAnn Young’s swing.

Like her brothers, Young is a top hitter, but she developed different mechanics after years of working with softball coaches.

Those who are looking for similarities between Young, a freshman on the Oregon State softball team, and her older brothers Dmitri Young, of the Detroit Tigers, and Delmon Young, who was the top pick in the 2003 draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, might see them in the way she runs the bases or in her demeanor on the field.

They definitely will find them in the way she plays the game.

Young is two years younger than Delmon and she always went to his games to watch him play. At 14 years her senior, Dmitri’s high school games are a fuzzy memory.

She does remember throwing with Dmitri.

“We’d go up to the park and throw,” Young said. “And Delmon would give me pointers throughout high school. I just always loved playing, loved watching them. My brothers helped me a lot since I was little.”

All three learned the fundamentals from their father, Larry Young.

Larry Young never played baseball. He was in the Navy and was stationed in Mississippi when Dmitri was born and was in Alabama when Delmon and DeAnn came along. Six months after DeAnn was born, the family moved to California.

Larry Young was also accomplished in karate and had Dmitri taking lessons.

Dmitri, however, wanted to play baseball. With some reluctance, Larry Young decided to let him play and started reading books and watching videos on the fundamentals of the sport so he could help out his son.

“I flew airplanes in the Navy and I learned to concentrate and focus out there,” Larry Young said. “When there’s bad weather, there are two places to land, on the ship or in the water. So I learned how to concentrate. I took that along with the karate and just tried to learn about the sport.”

Through trial and error, Larry Young found out what worked with Dmitri and continued to use those methods.

Dmitri took to the sport so well that Delmon and DeAnn fell right in line.

After Dmitri moved on, the two younger siblings worked together with their father.

“Usually it was me, Delmon and my dad because my dad was our hitting coach, so he worked with us together,” DeAnn Young said.

They learned the basics from their father, but had a combination of natural talent and passion for the game.

It was enough to land Dmitri, and then Delmon in pro baseball and DeAnn at Oregon State.

DeAnn Young said she’s not surprised her brothers made it to the top.

“They both worked really hard,” she said. “They’ve been working hard with my dad and my dad helped them a lot, going over hitting, to anything, like throwing (batting practice) with them.”

Having a brother on a Major League Baseball team has its perks. She has gone to see Dmitri play on several occasions both in Detroit and while he was in Cincinnati and when his teams played at Los Angeles-area teams. She hasn’t been able to see Delmon since he joined the minors.

A trip to the ballpark typically means good seats and access to players.

“You do get to meet players because you see them after the game and you just want to meet them,” she said.

Young has made the jump to Division I softball without a hitch.

She is second on the team with a .359 batting average with seven home runs, six doubles and 23 runs batted in.

Oregon State coach Kirk Walker said Young has a strong presence at the plate.

“She’s certainly made an impact with her power as well as with hitting for average,” Walker said. “It’s a lot of pressure to be hitting in that four or five spot and she’s had to step up and do that.”

The steps had to be taken by Young herself. She had to learn the nuances of softball on her own.

“I liked watching (Dmitri and Delmon), but I think they’re totally two different sports,” Young said. “They influence me (in that) I see how good they are and my potential.”