By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

For the first time in its seven-year program history, Duke softball had the opportunity to host the ACC Championship tournament this season. It was a welcome moment in the spotlight for a program still in its infancy.

“You’ve got to sit there and wait your turn as the new kid on the block,” head coach Marissa Young said. “It just feels like everything’s coming together at the right time.”

Young is the only coach the Blue Devils softball program has ever had. She’s helped to craft it from the ground up. Young worked with multiple programs prior to her time at Duke, including Eastern Michigan, Concordia University and North Carolina. She was a three-time All-American pitcher at Michigan during her playing days.

“Coach Young, that lady, she’s like a second mom to me,” Duke pitcher Jala Wright laughed.

“She strives for us to just be the best women that we can, cares about our personal self and not just our softball self,” second baseman Aminah Vega said.

Young said, “I think they really see me as someone who has to endure struggles just like they do and show up and be the best version of myself.”

As difficult as the journey to a conference title game can be, it’s nothing compared to what Young and her family have braved in the past year. It started in the Durham Super Regional in 2023.

“The last game of the season, my husband checked himself into the hospital, didn’t want me to know, didn’t want me to worry, but we later came to find out he had a heart attack two weeks prior,” Young said.

By the time James Lamar received medical treatment, the damage had already been done.

“Over time, it blew a hole in his heart, and he was on life support for about 11 days before he had a heart and kidney transplant,” Young recalled.

Their world changed. A year later, Young and Lamar still face an on-going daily struggle.

To say the year has been difficult would be an understatement.

“Life looks very differently for my family and our kids, and we’re adjusting, but softball is our saving grace,” Young said.

A mother of four, Young says she’s grateful for Duke Hospital, grateful to her assistant coaches, and grateful for her players. They’ve all helped to carry her and her family when they’ve needed it most.

“They made a promise to me in August, that they would play for me and keep things going, that they wouldn’t skip a beat,” she said.

So moments like the ACC Championship game, a comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Florida State followed by a chance to lift that trophy for the second time as a young program, mean so much.

There in the crowd, cheering on with family and seeing his first game in person all season was Lamar.

Young and this Duke team will never take that time for granted.

“At any given moment things can be taken from you, life can be changed, but most importantly, how do you show up when things are most difficult?”

The Blue Devils are the No. 10 national seed in the college softball postseason this year. Duke hosts the Durham Regional this weekend, playing its first game on Friday against Morgan State at 2:30 p.m.

Source: wralsportsfan.com