Zack Smith keeps his skills sharp

By Bond Brungard
Posted 7/3/19

After graduating from Pine Bush recently and playing varsity baseball there for parts of three seasons, Zack Smith is playing for the Middletown Cobras’ senior American Legion team to keep his …

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Zack Smith keeps his skills sharp

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After graduating from Pine Bush recently and playing varsity baseball there for parts of three seasons, Zack Smith is playing for the Middletown Cobras’ senior American Legion team to keep his skills sharp.

“All the little things I was messing up with, they helped me correct them,” he said. “And to just make me a better baseball player. We’re always playing good teams and getting better.”
Smith, an infielder and outfielder, has been playing for the Cobras while he was in high school, and he joined the varsity baseball team late in his sophomore year before playing two full seasons as a junior and senior.

Smith’s final season with the Bushmen was marked by a late season rally that sent them to the playoffs and eventually to the Section 9, Class AA final, which ended with a loss to Kingston.

“We knew we had a good team. In the beginning of the season we didn’t play that well. Finally we brought it back together,” he said. “We knew we had a good team but we weren’t sure how far we were going to go. We just kept our heads in the game and striving to win.”

And the Bushmen entered the quarterfinals as the seven-seed and then beat Middletown, the two-seed.

“We could see going into the game that they weren’t into the game as much as we were,” he said.

Smith started playing baseball when he was about eight years old, but now he’s undecided about his future after playing with his Pine Bush teammates since he was very young.

“I love the sport. I love winning, I love my teammates,” he said. “I grew up playing with those kids, and I just love it.”