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07/23/2024 10:10 AMIn a game predicated on ups and downs, a baseball player must house a sturdy mind to stay steady during the ebbs and flows. Jack Smith fully recognizes this fact and embraces it while withstanding the persistent pressure on the pitching mound.
Jack started baseball a little later in his youth, first getting onto the diamond around the age of 8. While also playing AAU ball, he was additionally a four-year member of the boys’ soccer squad at Branford. This year on the mound, the senior crafted a 2.91 earned-run average (ERA) with 29 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. He also was part of a superior pitching staff that helped a resilient Branford squad that qualified for state tournament play after a rough 2-10 start to the campaign.
“I love being able to apply baseball to life,” says Jack. “If you fail seven out of 10 times, then you are a hall of fame player. It is about adapting to failure as a player, learning from it, and then learning what to do better the next time out there and apply it.”
Jack brings the heat on the mound when it comes to his pitching style and preferred pieces of his artillery. But looking more beneath the surface, he is attracted to the cerebral component of the battle between pitcher and batter.
“I love pitching. I am mostly a fastball pitcher, and I like being able to control the pace of the game,” says Jack. “Whenever I have the ball in my hand, I honestly do not feel any pressure. I see it more as an honor and a chance to not let the team down. I also love the psychology of why you throw certain pitches in certain spots. It is cool to see that view of things. I actually find it more stressful to be in a jam when being on the field than the mound. I am not necessarily concerned about myself, but more about what I need to do to get out of a jam.”
While never backing down from a challenge, Jack explains that you must have the heart and mind of a warrior when any sort of adversity rears its head. He adds that you can also never give the opponent any sort of emotional edge.
“I love the challenge of going against a harder opponent,” Jack says. “And I feel I have definitely improved my mental game. When I was younger and even now, I do not get too rattled. You cannot give the other team anything to work with, and so you must stay calm and keep your composure. You also always have to be able to fight back. I just worry about throwing my game during the season, and then work on perfecting it in the offseason.”
Throughout Jack’s tenure at Branford, the Hornets had been on a stagnant crawl in terms of wins but always hard-working in terms of effort. It seemed this year, fitting for his final year, all of their time and dedication finally came into full fruition.
“We had a great year, and I feel it was the culmination of my four years with Branford,” says Jack. “In the past few years, we had been in a rut. We had a great team and fought in games, but we were just not on the winning side of things. Our whole senior class had a great year and were amazing leaders. Everyone really improved throughout the year.”
Branford skipper Stephen Malafronte details that Jack really showed his skills as a squad steward this year. His emotional stability was a perfect match for a Hornets’ club that needed a stoic presence to navigate through early-season struggles.
“Jack was a great leader for our team this year. He took his captainship very seriously and tried his best to inspire his teammates to compete as hard as they could every pitch of every game,” says Malafronte. “Jack led through example, always giving his maximum effort in all practice and game scenarios. His way of communicating and working with his teammates was second to none. Jack is a very easy going, laid back person, and this helped our team quite a bit during the difficult times in our season. His calm head allowed Jack to never fall off the tracks and keep our team focused on our ultimate goals. We will greatly miss Jack; it has been a pleasure to work with and coach him over the last four years.”
While the Hornets certainly earned the moniker of the comeback kids across the SCC this spring, they never surprised themselves because neither them or their coaches ever waved the white flag. Jack explains that another big factor in the team’s resurgence was the camaraderie in the clubhouse.
“Things really went our way as the year went on,” Jack says. “Our coaches were very supportive; they never gave up on us. We also never gave up on each other or the team. Even though we lost in the first round of states, it was a great way to end the year, as we lost 5-3 to the No. 1 seed. We were in every game we played this year. We had no quit, and the team chemistry was the best I had ever seen. The next day after a game, we always got right back to it in practice, and it showed.”