Delone Catholic junior Brett Smith is his school s first All-Area Player of the Year since Matt Barto in 2007. He is also only the second junior to ever claim the honor. (THE EVENING SUN -- CLARE BECKER)
Ask Delone Catholic High baseball coach Alan Felix for his favorite play from this year involving junior Brett Smith, and he'll tell you what happened April 28.

The Squires were playing Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Md., and Smith lined a base hit into the left-center-field gap. Felix estimated the fence was about 400 feet away, far enough for a chance at an inside-the-park home run.

"He ran in standing up," Felix said. "He's just an elite athlete. Essentially whatever you ask him to do, he's going to be able to do it. I'm sure he'd be the anchor on the 4-by-100 relay if he ran track."

Smith has been named the All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, edging Spring Grove junior Trevor Troxel and South Western junior Parker Bean.

Smith hit .483 with 30 runs as a leadoff hitter and shortstop and posted a 1.11 earned run average along with a 4-0 record on the mound.

The offensive numbers are lofty, but they came one season after he hit over .540. He was near that mark for much of this season until slumping - or at least what someone hitting that well could call a slump. The cause was he began pulling open with his left shoulder too quickly on his swing.

"I wasn't hitting the ball as sharply as I liked," Smith said. "I was hitting weak pop flies. I'm always telling myself to get that front shoulder in."

Some drop-off from last season could've been expected. High school players were required to use new bats, ones that reduced how hard balls were hit. Another cause of the decline was just the vagaries of a long baseball season.

"He was ahead of the count early in the season," Felix said. "It seemed he was down to two strikes more. The hits weren't coming as previously. It's tough to keep that pace all season."

The new bats benefited Smith on the mound.

He said, "I knew if I was going to throw inside, it was nice knowing it wasn't going to be a base hit," he said. "I was hoping to throw strikes and get groundballs and make sure my defense was back there."

Smith, who was named the All-Area Boys' Basketball Player of the Year, likely wasn't helped by receiving just one day of rest between basketball and baseball. He also played quarterback for the Squire football team last fall.

His schedule over the summer is also somewhat hectic, a mixture of all three sports. He's doing workouts and competing in games with the basketball team, playing for Brushtown in the South Penn Baseball League and plans to do a few showcase baseball games over the summer and will begin lifting for football soon.

"I'm going week by week," Smith said. "I like being busy."