MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Silver Lake Eagles quickly understood they were in trouble facing Girard junior staring pitcher Kam Smith during the Class 3A state championship game Friday night at Tointon Family Stadium on the Kansas State campus.
Smith retired the first 11 Eagle batters he faced and Drew Womack’s two-out single in the fourth broke up Smith’s bid for perfection.
Smith earned the win in Girard’s 8-0 victory and he allowed no runs on three hits (all singles) with 10 strikeouts and three walks over seven innings.
The Eagles found out why the Arkansas commit Smith rates among the very best high school pitchers in the entire state of Kansas.
“Just wanted to execute,” Smith said. “My philosophy on the mound is just throw strikes and get ahead with all my stuff and use all my pitches and compete through the zone. Luckily, it was good for me. I think they had really good approaches at the plate, but I continued to execute. I gave up that hit, I should have thrown a breaking ball and I knew it as soon as he hit it. That’s pitching and that’s how you learn and I’m going to learn from this outing. I’m excited to go back to work.”
The Trojans behind Smith have all the confidence in the world in No. 15, just as he trusts his defense like the 6-4-3 double play to end the fifth after Silver Lake worked consecutive walks against Smith.
Girard’s offense produced an early five-run lead and the Trojans were in control all seven innings with their winning combination of pitching, defense and timely hitting, as well as running wild on the basepaths.
“With Kam on the mound in the state championship, that’s an awesome thing to have,” senior Aiden Ashbacher said. “He’s the best pitcher in 3A by a long shot and it’s not even close.”
“It was amazing,” junior Robbie Bruning said. “It gave Kam the confidence he needed and he was able to go out there and just execute and do what he’s been doing all year. We just gave him a lead to pitch with and he pitched amazing.”
Smith worked through a couple momentary trouble spots and went the distance. He allowed two runners on in the seventh, but he struck out Dominic Monhollon and Benjamin Renfro to end the game.
“Honestly, the town,” Smith said. “We talked about Girard earlier, but I wanted to do it for everyone. I wanted to go the distance. I threw Monday (against Jefferson West) and I never bounced back in the spring this quick. I just wanted to do it. I felt good. I prepared well and I just wanted to finish it out and be at the bottom of the dog pile in the seventh.”
“We had some intention of taking him out,” Girard baseball coach Bob Fornelli said. “He wanted it and I think he only had five pitches left, so it’s a good thing he got it done when he did. Just the guts. He’s a good one. There’s not too many people in the country that have a guy like that. We’re fortunate to have one.”
Smith traditionally pitched on Mondays during the regular season, because that’s when CNC League teams play their league doubleheaders. Smith would pitch the first game of those doubleheaders. He also faced Class 5A opponent Pittsburg in a Monday non-league game.
“In the postseason, it changes up the schedule because you play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” Smith said. “I think this was my third week back going on short rest, which is fine and my body handled it well. That’s the biggest thing, it’s just staying healthy; I’m a junior and I want to have a good career, but I put that aside because I knew we were on the line for a championship. …
“As soon as I was done with my outing Monday, they pulled me at 73 (pitches) and I knew right then I was back to recovering and preparing my body for today. Luckily, it paid off.”
This sports reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/fund/support-local-journalism-project-fund
