By Daniel Paulling
As you probably know, Delone Catholic junior Brett Smith is pretty darned good at baseball. And at basketball. And at football. In my limited experience speaking with him, he also seems to be a courteous person.
However, there might be a problem in McSherrystown.
After covering a Squires game earlier this week, I received two voicemails from people claiming to be parents. They said some of Smith’s teammates were beginning to resent him for the amount of coverage he receives. One said some seniors were upset because of the focus on a junior.
I was hoping to call them back to discuss the situation — they also said they wanted more names to be printed in the paper — but neither left numbers.
Yes, I focused heavily on Smith in my story, but he was the story.
Smith earned the win after taking over when the score was 5-3 and Biglerville still in the game and leaving with an 11-4 lead. (Starting pitchers must throw four innings to qualify for the win, and Austin Buckley only threw three.)
After the game, Delone Catholic baseball coach Alan Felix spoke about how he turned to Smith because he felt his team needed a stopper at that point, needed a shutdown inning to let his team get back into the game mentally. Smith provided that inning.
He also went 4-for-4, just one of three Squires with multiple hits. His two-run home run took the 5-3 lead, a close one, to 7-3, not so close with the Canners down to just nine outs.
As I said, he was the story. Someone else could very likely be the story in the next game I cover. And I expect that, considering Delone is quite loaded.
Baseball is a team sport, and I would hope the players cared more about hustling and executing a sacrifice bunt than how many times their named appeared in the paper the next day. And I think Felix has coached them to play as a team.
I didn’t mean to cause any dissension on the team, as has been claimed, and I hope no one resents Smith for the coverage he receives. I look forward to continuing to write about Smith and his teammates.
“Tempest in a teapot”
The coverage given Brett is well deserved. He is an unassuming nice young man who just happens to be a heck of an athlete . It’s refreshing to see someone without the hot dog attitude that usually accompanies someone with unusual athletic prowess. Why shouldn’t sports writers highlight this, it’s their job. Few kids have the rare ability to excel in three major sports and as such deserve recognition. The objection to public acknowledgment of his contribution by a few jealous parents is to be expected. I’m sure those few if any of his fellow players who harbor ill feelings would readily admit they’re glad he’s on their team and not the opposition. I have no doubt this supposedly resentment is vastly overblown and his contribution is obvious to his teammates with or without it’s being heralded in local papers sports sections.