Mission Viejo’s Scotty Young relishes MVP season, looks ahead to CSUN
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (BVM) – When Mission Viejo High School’s 2020 baseball season was canceled after just six games, it provided a period of inward reflection for senior Scotty Young. The 6-foot-5 outfielder made the most of his limited junior season, batting .273 and knocking in four runs, but it wasn’t until that long offseason that Young finally got a real glimpse of the player he can be.
“With my junior season getting canceled, a big part of it was how I can develop myself individually,” Young said. “I feel like taking that step on my own increased my game to a level it’s never been to before.”
This new approach to personal development culminated in a special senior campaign for Young, and a memorable 2021 season for the Diablos. Not only was Young a leader in the dugout, but he was the team’s leader in just about every major statistical category.
He led Mission Viejo in batting average (.367), hits (32), triples (2), home runs (5) and stolen bases (20). Young’s 17 RBIs on the season were edged out by a few Diablo teammates (Jimmy Zakhar, Cade McClelland, Will Burns and Nolan Cusey), but no one outdid him for the league’s most coveted honor.
Young was named the South Coast League’s 2021 MVP, recognition he holds in high regard.
“That’s sort of like my golden medal,” Young said. “I set my goals high and I wanted to be first team all-league. When you set your goals high, it helps you achieve even more that you wanted to achieve. All that work I put in alone got to shine through when the time came.”
As impressive as Young was this spring, he wasn’t the only one eager to make up for a lost 2020 season.
Following a slow, 9-9 start to the season, the Diablos didn’t lose another series the rest of the way. With series wins over league foes El Toro, Aliso Niguel and Capistrano Valley, a 10-1 win over Dana Hills on May 28 earned Mission Viejo (17-14) an outright South Coast League title.
The end result might’ve been expected after the Diablos went 6-0 in 2020, but it was far from easy.
“Everyone on our team expected us to do great things, but when we got in there, reality hit us,” Young said. “Things don’t always go the way they’re supposed to and it took a lot of fighting, a lot of resilience.
“When we were able to come together as a team, it was amazing seeing guys step up who had never stepped up before, seeing courage out of guys who are shy. It took a lot of everyone fitting into their role to come out on top like we did.”
As is the case for most athletic achievements, there was plenty of motivation behind the Diablos’ championship season. One such source of motivation came from long-time head coach Chris Ashbach, who just wrapped up his 24th season as Mission Viejo’s skipper.
After 29 years in total as a coach, Ashbach retired on June 15, citing his desire to spend more time with family.
"It is with a grateful heart that I announce today after 29 years as a coach, 24 as the head coach for the Diablos, that I will be retiring." pic.twitter.com/aY42Y1OEZ4
— Mission Viejo HS Baseball (@BaseballMVHS) June 15, 2021
Young said he and the team knew Ashbach “was running on thin tires,” which ultimately helped the Diablos turn around their season and end it as champions.
“It (Ashbach’s impending retirement) gave us motivation that we needed to do what we did this season for him, and that helped us come together as a team even more,” Young said. “It’s been a really special thing to see him (Ashbach) go out on a note that I feel represents who he was as a coach.
“He was always a guy who was a winner. He was always a guy who was going to pick people up when they’re not doing exactly what they want to be doing. That was a big part of who he was.”
Young will take off for the next level to play for another well-respected head coach in Dave Serrano at California State University Northridge (CSUN).
Serrano just wrapped up his second season as the Matadors’ head coach after leading a pair of teams to a total six NCAA Tournaments and four NCAA Super Regionals during his 15-year head coaching career. He is one of 12 coaches all-time to lead two different schools to the College World Series (Cal State Fullerton, Tennessee).
“He (Serrano) kind of gave me the idea that he wanted to come back into the West to show everyone else what he could do, that he could flip a program around,” Young said. “His ideals at Northridge fit who I am as a player. He’s sort of been an underdog his whole career and he wants to make this program an underdog; that’s something I want to be a part of.”
With another year under Serrano’s direction and an influx of new talent like Young, CSUN is likely to improve upon its 21-19 finish to the 2021 season next spring, and the Mission Viejo standout is already thinking about it.
“Coming off the year that I had, I have a lot to prove,” Young said. “I’ve proved to everyone that I could do it, and now I need to prove that I still can do it, especially on a stage that’s much bigger. I’m looking forward to that more than anything and I’m definitely going to keep my foot on the gas.”
