An interview with JOCO/ALLDAY/EASTON’s Austin Denney

Austin Denney

USSSA Playing History

GoSoftball.com Player Page

Who are you playing with in 2013?
JOCO/ALLDAY/EASTON

Why do you like the game of softball?
I love the competition, and the friendships and brotherhood that comes with it.

Who is the best softball player you have ever seen play?
There are so many great players, Jeff hall, Wegman, Connell, just to name a few. Having played with Dennis Shrum out of TX, I must say he can hit it with the best of them when he wants to.

Who is the best up and coming player in softball and why?
Dave Taborsky and Cory Large. I'm not just saying Cory because he is one of my best friends, but he really is a great player. He makes the game look easy. Hes one of those guys that could go pick up a golf club and hit par having never played golf. He's a beast at XBOX too…

What is your nickname in softball?
Agent Denney

What is your height and weight?
6'4, 235

Where do you call home?
Grapevine, TX (Dallas/Fort Worth area)

What's your favorite way to spend an off weekend?
Either going out with friends, or hanging with the family

What do you do for a living?
I am a Special Agent with a Federal Law enforcement agency.

Did you play sports in High School / College / Pro?
baseball in high school and College (Northwood University). I also threw shot and discus on our college track and field team

How did you get your start in softball and how did you get to the upper level?
My dad played pretty high (A and AA) back in the day and I remember going to a lot of his tournaments as a small kid. When I retired from baseball, I started playing league until I was asked to play on a tournament team. John Heath from Sagnasty, a good local team, invited me to play with him and we did very well at the D and C level. Lyf Nimmo from ASPnation.com stepped in as a sponsor and I had a chance to play with him, and then Vivid in 2013. I also loved playing with the Texas Regulators (RIP Buddy).

What was the most surprising difference between Conference play and non-Conference play when you made the jump?
The speed of the game and the defense. Everyone can hit it.

What was the best advice you were ever given?
Swing hard, and swing at strikes.

What advice can you give a young player trying to break into the upper level?
That's a good question because I am wondering myself. Work hard and make your game a priority.

What positions do you play and what is your best position?
1B / C / EH and OF

What batting grip do you use?
baseball

What ounce bat do you use?
27 or 28 usually an end load

What do you do in the offseason to prepare for the next softball season?
I try to stay well rounded in my fitness program, so I do some crossfit and split routines. Lots of stretching, BP, and league play to get swings in when I can.

What is your favorite sports team?
Texas Rangers

What is your favorite sport other than softball?
Hockey and Ping Pong

What is your most memorable softball moment?
Beating Team 454/Worth an A team at the Texas legends major and coming in 4th as a C team (ASPnation/sagnasty) in 2011. We were just a bunch of young guys that had been playing maybe a year or so and had just finished playing D the year before. It was really fun because they were the best team we had seen so far and we played out of our minds that game. They went on to win A world that year and we finished pretty high in the C division.

What is your favorite non-World tournament?
Snowball in Denison, TX and the Postal State Tournament in Texas

What is the best softball field you have played at and why?
BLD is very nice, but I really like Kissimee and playing in Florida.

What is the funniest thing you have ever seen on a softball field?
I must say Cory Large getting pulled from a co-ed game (it was a fun tournament with friends no one took it serious) or when we played in the Postal state tournament our coach picked up a few non postal players (LC watson, dennis shrum, large, steve whaley etc). We pretty much destroyed every team we played as the competition was pretty bad. A player on another team came up to us after the game and told us that his team had just been beaten by a team that had a SS from Resmondo. Well LC was there (who played for resmondo at the time) and we all asked who this SS was and the player said he was a skinny Mexican guy and he wore a mask to play SS. We all got a pretty good laugh at that because this guy was telling ppl he played for Resmondo and ppl were believing him haha.