Young Puts Pain Behind Her

Marissa Young entered high school two years ago as a freshman phenomenon, pitched Mater Dei to a Southern Section championship and was named The Times Orange County player of the year.

It seemed nothing could stop her except her body.

And it did.

A pinched nerve in her neck led to shooting pain through her elbow, forearm and wrist. So she adopted a more passive approach to throwing her rise and, more importantly, her curveball.

Everything turned on the injury, caused by the repetitive throwing motion.

Today, Mater Dei will play Camarillo, the team Young beat in the 1996 section championship game. The game will be played at Hillview School, across the street from Foothill High.

Young, the probable pitcher, is more likely to resemble her old self--the one who pitched a two-hitter against the Scorpions two years ago--than the one who struggled through last season.

“This year, I’m confident when I go out there,” Young said. “I’m not holding anything back for fear of hurting myself.

“Subconsciously, I held back last year.”

She hardly threw her rise ball last season and didn’t want to throw the curve excessively. And the curve, she said, “set up everything else.”

“It was really frustrating,” Young said of her sophomore season. “I knew I could go out and pitch in pain, but it wasn’t the best thing for me in the long run.

“It was a frustrating time. I was out there with the mentality of doing my best for the team, but I wasn’t living up to my potential. It’s frustrating when you know what you want to do, but you can’t physically do it. I couldn’t meet my own expectations.”

Young was 18-1 with 216 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings and a 0.06 earned-run average as a freshman. This season, she is 12-2 with 136 strikeouts in 92 innings and a 0.00 ERA. Only two runs have been scored against her.

Last year? She was 10-3, with 121 strikeouts in 74 innings and a 0.38 ERA. Not bad, but not the old Marissa.

“She’s more of a total pitcher now,” Mater Dei Coach Doug Myers said. “She mixes up her offspeed pitches, keeps the ball down more. When she was a freshman, she depended more on power. She has adjusted to umpires’ strike zones better.”

Young and Mater Dei’s other pitcher, sophomore Tia Bollinger, provide quite a tandem for Myers as the Monarchs head into the Division I semifinals. Bollinger gave up only six runs this season and her ERA is 0.15.

“They are more effective against different types of teams,” Myers said. “Marissa can add another dimension because she’s a great fielder. Tia might have a little more control.”

Myers has a feeling about the injury, though.

“You don’t know what would have happened, but I don’t think it retarded her development,” he said. “I think she is a better pitcher than she was as a freshman.”

Months of physical therapy beginning in December rehabilitated the arm. Though her arm no longer presents a problem for her pitching, a separate injury might have affected her batting.

One at-bat after knocking the pitcher from the game with a line drive to the mouth April 4 against Lakewood St. Joseph, Young was hit in the elbow by the reliever. While trying to get out of the way, she also strained muscles in her ribs. Young missed two weeks and hasn’t hit the same since.

She is batting .284 with 14 RBIs. Young batted .402 with 35 RBIs as a freshman and .429 with 26 RBIs as a sophomore.

“I’ve struggled this year,” Young said. “I’ve made contact, but I haven’t found the holes. There are other girls to pick up the slack. My little sister, [freshman] Jessica, has done a great job too. It’s been everybody.”

It hasn’t been everybody lately. The Monarchs have scored only four runs in three playoff victories, and needed 10 innings to beat Los Alamitos in the second round, 1-0. Young provided the shutout.

Young said there is one difference between now and before her injury.

“My stamina isn’t what it used to be,” she said. “My velocity is the same, my movement is the same or better. [Against Los Alamitos] I struggled the last two or three innings. Normally, that wouldn’t be the case. In years past, I’d be able to go two games, back-to-back, no problem.”

A title would mean a lot to Young because she played with many of her senior teammates before she enrolled at Mater Dei, and also because she has something to prove.

“I heard a lot of people go, ‘Oh, Marissa is not going to be the same,’ ” Young said. “If we come back with a championship, the end result will speak for my performance.”