He is nowhere near Notre Dame’s Joe Given, who eclipsed 700 wins
last season and is currently enjoying his 30th year with the
Spirits, but San Benito manager Scott Smith did reach a nice, round
number of victories on Tuesday after the Lady Balers topped Everett
Alvarez 10-0 in Salinas.
HOLLISTER
He is nowhere near Notre Dame’s Joe Given, who eclipsed 700 wins last season and is currently enjoying his 30th year with the Spirits, but San Benito manager Scott Smith did reach a nice, round number of victories on Tuesday after the Lady Balers topped Everett Alvarez 10-0 in Salinas.
The win was No. 200 for the Lady Balers manager, who is in his eighth year at the helm for San Benito.
“I didn’t even know,” Smith said on Tuesday night.
Extending the season by advancing to the Central Coast Section playoffs each and every year certainly makes it easier to pick up wins along the way. With Smith’s first season coming in 2003, the Lady Balers have never had a losing campaign and never had less than 20 wins to their name.
Over the last eight years, Smith and the Lady Balers are 200-43-1 overall and 77-19 in the Tri-County Athletic League.
“Eight years, that’s been a while,” Smith said. “I guess Bobby Knight said it best — it just means that I’ve coached for a long time.”
While Smith said he has a passion for the game and simply enjoys being out on the softball diamond six days a week, he’s fully aware of the hard-working individuals that have come through San Benito High — a factor that has only made the coaching staff’s job that much easier.
“We work them really hard,” Smith said. “And I think the biggest thing is that the kids want to work that hard. They buy into it and the parents are very supportive.”
Without that tandem, Smith added, winning 82 percent of your games would never happen.
“And we’ve had really talented kids, too,” the manager said. “J.C. Clayton, Elena Fata, Lizzy Gatto, Rachel Maheu, Marisa Ibarra, Amy Baxter, Hillary Williams … when you have kids like that, all you have to do is work them hard and they’ll take care of the wins for you.”
Interestingly enough, Smith’s greatest memory over the last eight seasons ties into that very statement.
In May 2006, with the Lady Balers playing for the Division I championship against Watsonville, Smith instead had to travel to Texas to attend his stepdaughter’s wedding. But behind a one-hit masterpiece from Marisa Ibarra, San Benito earned a 1-0 victory in eight innings — the first of four straight CCS titles — even though their head coach was not present.
“You work the kids so hard, they know what to do when you’re not even there,” Smith said. “That’s one of the proudest moments I’ve had.”
As for Given, who is reportedly coaching his final year at Notre Dame, Smith is only 20-plus seasons and 500-plus wins away from the Spirit manager.
“No way,” Smith laughed. “I’ll never catch that.”
Year Overall TCAL
2009-10 19-2 8-0
2008-09 27-4 10-2
2007-08 28-4 12-0
2006-07 32-3 11-1
2005-06 29-3 10-2
2004-05 20-8-1 6-4
2003-04 22-9 10-5
2002-03 23-10 10-5
