Page 7 - TL Diamond Roundup 2016

REDEMPTION ROAD
Smeltzer motivated by 2015 state-title loss
Losing a state championship game can be painful. Losing for the fourth straight time in a season to a nearby rival — this time in the
state championship game — will make
one wake up in a cold sweat. Welcome to Josh Smeltzer’s world. Smeltzer, a versatile Magnet Cove baseball star, has spent the ofseason pondering what might have been ater Ouachita beat the Panthers 4-1 in
the Class 2A state championship game last May.
“hat was tough losing the fourth one; that hurt pretty bad,” Smeltzer said. “We played pretty solid ball, but Ouachita had a good pitcher, and we couldn’t get to him. hey just hit the ball better than we did that day.”
he loss and the constant reminder looming just down the road have served as motivators for not only Smeltzer but the rest of the squad, which returns a good nucleus of players from last year’s team.
“We have been working this year harder than ever,” Smeltzer said. “I can see it in our practices. We are a lot more focused. We talk about that game a lot. We want to get back [to the state title game] and inish what we started.”
Smeltzer, a sturdy 6-feet-1 and 217 pounds, also played running back and linebacker on the Panthers football team. However, it’s baseball that has been his love since he could pick up a bat, and the sport he will play at the University of Southern Arkansas next year.
BY NATE OLSON
Photo by Kelvin Green
“I have played every summer that I can remember, and I have been watching games with my papa, dad and uncle forev- er,” Smeltzer said. “My grandpa coached my Little League and travel teams, and I have just always been around baseball and just loved it. It has been natural to me.”
Smeltzer has played shortstop on the varsity squad since he was a freshman. He plans to pitch and catch this season.
“He is a great kid and is going to do anything he can to help us win,” Magnet Cove coach Robert Webb said. “Some- times he is too hard on himself and expects to go 4-for-4 with a home run and a double, but he just wants to be the best player he can. He is always working to get better.”
Smeltzer admitted he isn’t a vocal leader. He lets his daily routine do his
talking.
“Last year, we had so much rain on a
Friday night that we called the Saturday game of the night before,” Webb said. “I came down to the ield at 8:30 a.m. to get the tarp of the ield, and he was already down in the cage hitting of of a tee. He knew we weren’t playing, but he was down there anyway. hat is what kind of a kid he is, and the other kids see that.”
Webb also pointed to the time the team spent at Jonesboro last spring while
playing in the state tournament at Marked Tree. Webb
said the players were
in bed early the four
nights they stayed
in a hotel, and no bed
check was needed, thanks
to the leadership provided by Smeltzer and others.
Smeltzer has replayed the
title-game loss in his mind over and
over since last May. He thinks about
the screaming line drive that was caught by a Magnet Cove outielder that would have scored a run if it had dropped and maybe would have sparked a rally. He thinks about what he will do diferently if he takes the ield at Baum Stadium in May.
“I am going to try to relax and have fun and just play,” Smeltzer said. “I think it makes it easier since we have been there before. We will be more relaxed this time.”
he state-inals appearance generated a buzz in the small town. It was the irst time the school had played in a state-title game. Smeltzer can’t think of a better way to make a return trip to Fayetteville and come home with the school’s irst state baseball title.
“It is something I think about every day — getting there and not inishing the job,” Smeltzer said. “It would be special, but not just to me, but everybody in the communi- ty. It would be special for everybody,
and that is why we are motivated to get back there.”
Other up-and-coming players in the Tri-Lakes area
HUNTER HICKS
SHERIDAN YELLOWJACKETS
• .443 batting average,
14 doubles, 7 home runs in 2015
DANNY SPRADLIN
ARKADELPHIA BADGERS
• .386 batting average, .28 RBIs, 5 home runs, 8 doubles in 2015
BRINSON WILLIAMS
BENTON PANTHERS
• .481 batting average,
6 doubles, 32 RBIs in 2015