KJ Smith delivered the big blow in the very first inning Monday at Starkville Academy.
With Heritage Academy teammate JR Lott standing on second base after hitting a two-out double, Smith smashed a ball over the left field fence in the opening inning of the opening game in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AAA North championship series.
Smith, hitting cleanup for the Patriots despite battling a hitting slump, was grinning from ear to ear as he trotted home and jumped on home plate.
“There’s no better feeling than coming out of a slump,” Heritage coach Justin Flake said.
The home run helped send the Patriots on their way to a 4-0 victory over Starkville in the best-of-three series.
“It felt pretty good,” Smith said. “He threw me a curve ball first pitch. I knew he was going to come back with a fastball.”
The Patriots and Volunteers meet again for Game 2 at 5 p.m. today at Heritage in Columbus. Another Heritage victory would end the playoff series; a Starkville win would force a winner-take-all Game 3 to be held after the completion of the 5 p.m. game.
Starkville’s pitchers might give some special attention to Smith.
He reached base in his first three at-bats Monday. In addition to the home run, he singled in the fourth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Carter Putt, and walked in the sixth inning, stole second base and scored on a double by Cole Ketchum.
Hitting slump? What slump?
“I told him last week, ‘You’re going to have a big series,'” Berry said.
“He had some struggles last couple of weeks,” Flake said. “I just told him, ‘Keep fighting. Something good was going to happen.’ There’s always another side of the slump.”
Smith’s home run put Starkville in a near impossible situation. Before Heritage ace pitcher Blayze Berry, a Mississippi State recruit, had even thrown his first pitch, he had a two-run lead. Last week, he shut out 2018 AAA state champion Indianola on two hits.
“It (the home run) really set the tone early,” Berry said.
“Especially with Blayze on the mound, all we’ve got to do is put numbers on the board,” Smith said.
Monday, Berry carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
“He went up there and did what he did, controlled the game, imposed his will on them,” Flake said of Berry.
Berry struck out eight and walked one. The only Starkville hitter he walked, Sam Clark, he picked off first base. He lost the no-hitter in the fifth inning when Nason Heflin hit a ball up the middle for a single. No Starkville runner got past first base.
Paul Bowker is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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