With Butler back at nationals and unreal stats, Derby’s Madi Young chases a D1 dream
The numbers sound like they’re from a video game.
A .557 batting average. A total of 107 runs scored, 58 stolen bases and 51 extra-base hits in 52 games. And oh yeah, zero strikeouts in 176 at bats.
Not a bad freshman campaign for Butler Community College’s Madi Young, a Derby native who has helped the Grizzlies to a 50-2 record and their fifth straight trip to the NJCAA national tournament, which started on Tuesday night with a 10-2 romp over Trinity Valley Community College to revenge one of the team’s two losses this season. Butler plays Three Rivers Community College in Yuma, Arizona at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s not a surprise that every time Butler coach Doug Chance’s cell phone buzzes, it’s usually a call, text or email from a Division I coach inquiring about the shortstop.
“The first name out of their mouth is always Madi Young,” Chance said. “We’ve got a lot of girls on our team getting a lot of attention as well, but she’s the first kid they always want to talk about.”
Young committed to the University of Kansas during her junior year at Derby in the fall of 2018, but re-opened her recruitment when the KU coach left the program. She decided to follow in her older sister’s footsteps at Butler, where Kenzie Young was a two-time All-American before finishing her career at the Division I level at North Texas and Mississippi.
With the stats she’s posted this spring, Madi Young seems poised to also continue her journey at a major Division I program. But she stresses that she still has eligibility for another year at Butler and she’s not going to leave the school, where her father, Darren, and sister, Kenzie, are assistant coaches, for any Division I offer.
“I’ve always wanted to play D1 softball since I was a little girl,” Madi Young said. “But as of right now, I’m wanting to return to Butler unless I get that offer I can’t resist from a dream school. With my coaching staff, I know I can reach that level. That’s why I’m not stressed about feeling like I have to go anywhere next year. There’s no pressure, so I’m just playing the game I love and having fun.”
Chance said he knew Madi was going to be a standout player after his experience with Kenzie and her work ethic.
It quickly became evident that the typical hitting and fielding drills weren’t going to be enough to challenge Madi and other players on this Butler team. So he had to ramp up the difficulty and still, Madi and Kansas-born standouts like Shayna Espy and Emily Adler would make it look too easy.
Chance affectionately calls those kind of players “grinders” and “dirtbags.”
“There’s no limits to what Madi thinks she can achieve because she’s very physically gifted, she has incredible hand-eye coordination and just an unreal work ethic,” Chance said.
“So when other kids on the team see the grinders and dirtbags aren’t just relying on natural ability and they’re working harder than anybody else, then that tends to make other players into grinders and dirtbags. It’s really important because you don’t want kids to think they can just show up and have success without working hard. That’s what makes Madi and this group of girls special: they’re talented but they’re also never content with where they’re at.”
With so many big hitters in the lineup this season for the Grizzlies, which included Hannah Knox, Mariah Wheeler, Ari Cordova and Anna Icenhower, combined with the best pitching staff in the country featuring a team earned-run average of 1.88 with Maddie Redman, Izzy Erickson and Kelcie Kippes, Madi Young said that’s why she’s been able to thrive so much this season.
That combination has made Butler one of the favorites to win the national championship this week in Arizona. The program is looking for its third national title after winning back-to-back crowns in 2016 and 2017.
So what’s it like to play for a national power with your father and sister coaching you, while you put up mind-boggling statistics and chase a Division I dream?
“It honestly is kind of unreal,” Young said. “But I’m just out there having fun and I don’t really look at stats. I don’t know about them until people come up and ask questions about them. I’m more concerned about just having fun with this team and trying to help my team win.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 6:24 PM.
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