DISTRICT 6-2A CHAMPIONS: Smith County Cruises To 11-1 Victory Over York In District Title Game

By Michael Lindsay

The Smith County Owls are baseball district champions for the first time since 2018 following Wednesday afternoon’s 11-1 victory over York Institute in the District 6-2A championship game.

“It was a lot about trusting our process and the things we worked for this year,” said Smith County head coach Malone Smith. “My guys have really worked and kept at it, and it showed off. Undefeated district champions is a heck of an achievement for our guys.

“It’s something I wanted really bad personally,” added Smith. “I was super pumped to get that notch on the belt and to keep growing our brand and our name.”

Smith County defeated Cannon County 4-0 on Tuesday in the semifinals before Wednesday’s 11-1 win over York in the championship. University of Alabama commit Riley Martin earned the complete-game victory in the semifinals by allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out 14 batters. Morgan Sinclair followed with a complete-game victory of his own in the championship game, where he struck out 5 batters and surrendered 3 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings.

“Riley Martin threw a heck of a game yesterday,” said Smith. “That dude was lethal; he didn’t miss any pitches. Cole Hackett’s been working at shortstop and made a diving and catch late in the game. He had a big two-run double in the championship game when it was still a tight game. Ethan Montgomery’s been swinging the heck out of the heck out of the stick, and same thing with Jacob Lapham. All of our guys contributed in some way.”

The Owls racked up 8 hits in 5 innings in Wednesday’s championship game, led by Cole Hackett and Ethan Montgomery with 2 hits each. Montgomery went 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBIs while Hackett recorded a double, 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

Montgomery opened the contest with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Owls tacked on 3 runs in the bottom of the second via a sacrifice fly by Cohen Rigsby and a double by Hackett to put the Owls up 4-0.

York got on the board in the top of the fifth inning as a Garrison Garrett grounder scored Kaden Mundy to make the score 4-1 going to the bottom of the fifth.

Smith County put the game away in the bottom-half of the inning as they scored 7 runs to win via mercy rule, 11-1.

The district championship secures more than a week of rest for the Owls, who will host the Region 3-2A tournament next Friday and Saturday in Carthage.

“A lot of these guys are throwing a lot of innings this year,” said Smith. “We don’t have to play that third game tomorrow, and we don’t play again until we host the region next Friday. We get a little downtime to rest, but still need good practices to get them back focused and locked in.”

York Institute falls to the consolation bracket and will play the winner of Monterey and Cannon County tomorrow in the runner-up game.