It wasn’t like last year, when Team Ohio’s Ryan Meade sent 10 shots over the outfield wall to win the Sunbelt Classic’s home run derby. And it wasn’t exactly like two years ago, either, when home runs were so hard to come by, the home run derby was determined by points.
Monday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park, it was somewhere between the two.
Team Texas’ Adam Smith went yard three times, twice in the final round, winning the annual swinging contest as the only player to leave the park three times.
“It feels awesome,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of tough competition and I just can’t wait to get the games started.”
He, along with teammate Max Garner, Ohio’s Andrew Carpenter and Grant McCoury and Arizona’s Matt Summers, advanced to the final round with one home run.
Garner had the best first round score with a home run and three points, given as a tiebreaker for hitting the wall.
Garner, McCoury and Summers all homered in the final round, and Smith quickly added one and a hopper off the warning track to have a home run and a point.
And just when it looked like it was over, Smith nailed a shot to left field that happened to hang up in the swirling wind. After first looking like it would be his final out, the ball carried over the wall to win the derby championship.
“It almost had to be the last hit,” Smith said. “It was close.”
Smith wasn’t even supposed to be in the derby. In fact, he said he’s not a home run hitter at all.
“I just got lucky, I guess. I played the wind right,” Smith joked. “I just came out here for fun.”
Garner was voted to be Team Texas’ representative in the derby by his teammates, but the squad needed another big bat, as each team sent two into the contest.
“Me and another guy raised our hands, and then we picked a number between one and 25,” Smith said.
His guess paid off.
Smith said his team is ready to do more than win a hitting contest this week in Norman.
“We’re very excited, we’re ready to play and eager to win,” Smith said. “The best part is that you get to play this level of competition from all across the country. There are guys who are going to be going off to college and guys who are going to be playing here next year.”
Team Oklahoma was represented by Norman North’s Chris Ellison and Chickasha’s Kennedy Winn, both of whom failed to go deep or score a point.
Smith and Team Texas play Georgia at L. Dale Mitchell Park today at 4 p.m. and then take on Ohio at Norman North’s Tull Lake Park at 7 p.m. Team Oklahoma plays Arizona at North at 4 p.m. and Maryland at L. Dale Mitchell Park at 7 p.m.
Jeff Johncox
366-3535
jjohncox@normantranscript.com
Local Sports
June 17, 2008
Sunbelt a blast
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