Monroe City’s Youngblood carries on family legacy of creating havoc on softball diamonds

MONROE CITY, Mo. — The end of an era for the Monroe City softball program is coming soon. 

Panthers coach Melissa Chinn tries not to let that cross her mind.

“It’s very sad to think about,” Chinn said.

At the same time, she is grateful for having been able to coach each of the three Youngblood sisters.

“I love that family,” Chinn said.

Audri Youngblood is the last of three siblings to play softball at Monroe City. Carly Youngblood graduated from Monroe City in 2022 and is entering her junior season playing for the University of Central Missouri, and Lauren Youngblood graduated in 2020 and went on to play softball at Indiana University-Indianapolis.

“There was some pressure,” Audri Youngblood said. “I knew I wanted to go to college for softball. That’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. Seeing both of them go, I was like, ‘Dang, I should really step up my game.’”

The baby sister has done that and then some. She made an immediate mark by earning second-team all-state honors as a freshman and was named a first-team all-stater as a junior.

“Sometimes you have those kids you hear about, and she was one of them that we were kind of waiting for,” Chinn said. “She has surpassed every expectation. She’s the total package.”

Youngblood caught the attention of big-time programs like Wisconsin, Iowa, Southern Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri, but she ultimately chose Kansas last fall.

“My junior year summer, I had no clue any of this was going to happen,” Youngblood said. “I joined a new team that was very competitive and had a lot of eyes on them. I knew I wanted to go to college for softball, but I didn’t think I was going to go anywhere big or anything. I’m super blessed and thankful for the opportunity I was given and super happy with my decision.”

The decision to wear the blue and red at the next level instead of the black and gold caused a stir amongst some of the Monroe City faithful.

“A lot of Monroe City people are hardcore Mizzou fans,” Youngblood said. “Some of them were like, ‘Why’d you pick KU?’”

She may be converting some of them, but only slightly.

“They said they would wear red and blue for me, but I’m the only person they would do it for,” Youngblood said.

With her decision made, Youngblood’s focus is squarely on helping the Panthers secure a 10th straight winning season and pursuing continued postseason success. They are well on their way to doing so as Monroe City is off to an 8-4 start, and Youngblood is on pace for another sterling offensive season.

Her batting average is up 43 points from .457 to .500, and she is slugging 115 points higher — .868 compared to .753 last year. Perhaps Youngblood’s most gaudy statistic comes as a result of her uncanny ability to make contact. She has not struck out in 45 plate appearances this season and only went down on strikes once all of last season.

“It’s really just my hand-eye coordination and just knowing I’m capable of doing it,” Youngblood said of her ability to make contact at such a high rate. “Having that confidence when I step in the box really helps me.”

The .800-plus slugging percentage is evidence Youngblood does more than make contact.

She makes hard contact.

“I was playing defense out there one day. I was playing shortstop and I was playing on the edge of the grass because she hits the ball that hard,” Chinn said. “I would be terrified to be the other team most of the time.”

Youngblood has also taken on the role as the Panthers’ No. 1 pitcher with Lucy Pratt’s graduation despite not pitching for her select team. And she’s been solid with a 3.15 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 44 innings.

“I’ve been knocking off a lot of rust,” Youngblood said. “I haven’t been the greatest at hitting my spots, but I’m getting better at that.”

Chinn is amazed at Youngblood’s prowess in the circle.

“The fact that she can go out there and just throw as well as she does, as hard as she does and she doesn’t do it all summer long, to have that ability, right?” Chinn said.

All the while, she’s stayed tight with her older siblings.

“We have a Snapchat group chat, and we talk in that basically every day, just updating each other on what’s going on,” Audri Youngblood said. “And if we post something on our story, they’ll swipe up and we’ll start a conversation off of that.”

While Carly, Lauren and Audri spend time together doing other things when the older siblings happen to be in town, it’s still almost all softball all the time in the Youngblood family.

“Right now, it basically is all softball,” Audri Youngblood said. “In the summers, they come to my tournaments. Last year, we went to Colorado and California and they both came down and we made it kind of like a vacation. Once I start college, we’ll probably do some more things outside of softball, but right now it’s pretty much go, go, go with softball.”

Audri said her sisters have been great guides for navigating college applications and preparing for college life.

“They kind of walked me through those steps,” Audri Youngblood said. “They’ve already been through it, so they’re teaching me how to work everything. I’m lucky.”

With Audri set to embark on that college journey in a matter of months, Chinn can feel an incoming sense of relief amongst other Clarence Cannon Conference coaches.

“I think everybody would like to have an Audri, a Youngblood,” Chinn said. “I think everybody in our conference is excited to see that name go away off of my roster because it’s been a staple for so long.”

And even though nine seasons of Youngblood excellence at Monroe City will be coming to a close soon, Chinn has savored every moment.

“I can’t say that I got to be the one to make them what they are because that started really young, but to be a little bit of it and help them, motivate them, whatever it might be, just getting them to the next level, I’m happy to be a part of it,” Chinn said.