He was shaking. He knew he had to tell them. At one of his proudest moments – as a coach, a parent, or even just a human being – Scott Smith had to muster up the courage to share the difficult news with his players.
Minutes after the San Benito softball team completed its thrilling, nine-inning victory over Carlmont in the Central Coast Section semifinals late last month, the Lady ‘Balers bounded down the rightfield line for their traditional post-game meeting. Amidst the team’s euphoria of advancing to the championship game, the San Benito coach was also torn apart inside.
He could not coach the team in the title game. And now he had to tell his players.
“I started to tell ’em,” said Smith, who would fly out the next day to be alongside his stepdaughter, Shellby, at her wedding in Dallas, “(but) I couldn’t get it out.”
With tears welled up, the coach had to walk away from the ‘Balers and let assistant Mike Maheu finish sharing the news.
After excruciating losses in the championship game in 2001 and 2003, this would be the ‘Balers’ year – Smith was sure of that. His team, his program, was on the doorstep of the school’s first-ever softball championship … and he wouldn’t be there at the final step of the journey.
“That was the toughest thing I ever had to do,” Smith said of telling his players he couldn’t be with them. “Coaching is all my life. I wanted (the championship) for the school. I wanted it for the kids you had before. To get there and not be able to be on the field was tough.”
‘Balers shortstop Elena Fata said she and her teammates knew something was amiss when they saw their coach start to cry and step out of the dugout with two outs and a 7-0 lead over Carlmont.
“We were all shocked by it,” said Fata, who heard her coach say that he had known about the potential conflict all season, but had kept it within the coaching staff. “A couple of girls started crying. His stepdaughter’s wedding? We’re like his kids, too, so he was torn.”
Asked to put herself in Brown’s position – wanting her stepfather to be at her wedding – Fata said the choice was easy.
“I think that if I was her, I’d say the family is more important than the softball team,” Fata said.
Senior first baseman Ari Romero said she could see her coach struggling.
“I know it was killing him inside,” Romero said, “and I know it was tearing him up. I support him 100 percent.”
With Maheu, Smith’s longtime assistant, at the helm, San Benito went on to defeat Watsonville 1-0 in another extra-inning nailbiter last Saturday to secure the title, enabling the nervous head coach to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
“I’d thrown up a couple of times that morning,” said Smith, who was getting ready in his hotel room when the team called in its post-game huddle to share the moment with their coach. “I was really anxious and got sick to my stomach. Had they not pulled it off and won it, I would’ve blamed myself.”
Even though he was unable to see the team through to the championship – and perhaps because he couldn’t attend – San Benito’s title-securing victory stands as one of the greatest testaments to Smith’s coaching. He had built a program that was so strong that it could prevail when the stakes were the highest without its chipper coach manning his traditional spots in the dugout or in the third-base coaching box.
The hard work had already been done. Months of preparation, both physical and mental, steeled the players’ confidence and enabled the ‘Balers to see their mission through regardless.
But that didn’t make it any easier for their coach.
“It was devastating,” Smith said of not being able to share the championship in person with his team. “Really, it was.”
And for the players, too.
“I miss him,” Romero said shortly after the championship feeling settled in. “He’s not there to tell us not to blink. It’s hard that he’s not here, but we did it for him.”
Left fielder Audra Brown said the one thing missing from the celebration was the man most responsible for the team’s success.
“It’s kind of sad our head coach didn’t get to see us win since he’s been wanting that forever,” Brown said.
Nearly a week after San Benito won the title, Smith responded decisively when asked whether his absence took away from the championship.
“Absolutely not,” Smith answered. “No, it doesn’t. For the team, it actually enhances it. I almost think me not being there is a tribute to the team. I was like a member of the family that couldn’t be there. Taking away from their accomplishment? No, I think it adds to it.”
In perhaps the greatest credit to his coaching and the team he helped develop, many of Smith’s players said their coach was in their thoughts throughout the championship day.
“We were doing it for our coach because he couldn’t be here,” junior Jordan Lee said. “We just really wanted to do it for ourselves and for him.”
