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General  | General | 7/11/2009

Smith had remarkable season at Howard College

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Britt Smith sits in the second row of box seats behind home plate on Field 1, pointing a radar gun at the pitchers, keeping the official scorebook, operating the scoreboard and quietly taking notes during the World Wood Bat Association 17U National Championships at the East Cobb Complex. You'd never know that his team at Howard College had one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of college baseball this year, because he's certainly not bragging about it and appears more interested in doing his job here than having someone pat him on the back.

Smith, 37, is the head baseball coach at Howard College in Big Spring, Texas. The Hawks began the 2009 season with 57 straight wins, breaking the national record for the longest winning streak by any college at any level, and proceded to win the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I title with a final mark of 63-1. Their team batting average for the regular season was .441, another national record.

Smith wore a T-shirt here the other day that said "Howard" across the chest, followed below by 'Member of the .400 Club." There were nine members of that .400 club this year, which was pretty much the entire lineup. Will Calhoun hit .527 to lead the nation. Other than the shirt, which took a little explaining, you wouldn't know that the coach of this record-setting machine was working for Perfect Game USA at a 17-and-under tournament in Georgia.

"Our goal was never to go undefeated," he said after supervising his fifth game on Friday. "Our goal was to win the national championship, and had been since Day 1. We told our kids at our first team meeting in August: That's the goal, that's the expectation, and there's plenty of talent in the room to get it done. That's our goal, and if you're not on board you need to get out now before school starts."

There were a few close calls early in the season, a one-run game here and a two-run game there, but the team kept winning. The offense started to click during the second week of the conference season, when Howard battered New Mexico Military Institute by at least 15 runs in four straight games.

"From then on, it just started rolling," Smith said. "It was ridiculous how well we started swinging the bats."

Ironically, Smith said the team was built around a strong pitching staff, so when the Hawks began knocking the ball around the park, they became nearly unbeatable. They reached 20-and-0, then 30-and-0, and people began to talk about an undefeated season. Howard was 40-0 when it met Midland College of Texas, one of the stronger teams in the league, and beat them pretty good. Brian Blessie, the coach at Odessa College, sent Smith a text message that predicted the Hawks would finish the regular season with a perfect 56-0 record.

"I sent him a text back," Smith related. "I said, 'You're crazy. There's no way.'"

Howard was supposed to play 56 games in the regular season, but two games were rained out and not replayed. They finished the regular season 54-0, a national record for regular-season games, but one victory shy of the overall national mark of 55 straight set by Seminole State College in 1987. The Hawks advanced to the regional playoffs needing one victory to tie Seminole State's record and two wins to break it.

The media spotlight intensified at the regional tournament with the record in sight. The Fort Worth Telegram and Dallas Morning News were there. USA Today climbed aboard. CNN did a piece. "And the next thing you know," said Smith, "it's a big story."

Howard tied the record of 55 straight in the regional opener, then snapped the record in the second round. The Hawks were thinking about their next game, in the winners bracket final, but all the questions from the media were about the record, not the next game. "Oh yeah, we did break the record tonight," Smith remembers thinking. "The record honestly never was the focus."

They won again to go 57-0, reaching the championship round of the double-elimination tournament. Temple College came back through the losers bracket and beat Howard in the first championship game, snapping the streak at 57 in a row, but the Hawks won the next game to claim the regional title and make the NJCAA World Series. Smith thinks the loss was a blessing in disguise, because it ended all the questions about having a perfect season and let the Hawks concentrate on winning the national title. And that's what they did, winning five straight games at the Series.

Smith said his team's focus was the same the entire year: Focus pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, inning to inning.

"If you take care of that all year long, the wins and losses will take care of themselves," he said. "And the kids really bought into the things we teach and the thngs that we preach. And the biggest thing of all, they were the most unselfish bunch I've ever coached, on and off the field. They made the sacrifices, they did the things that were necessary for them to be successful. And you could see that throughout the year.

"We didn't have just one guy that carried us," he said. "Every game, there were four or five different guys getting it done. And that's what made it special, because everybody felt, 'Hey, I had a part in this, I had a BIG part in it.'"

Smith has worked for Perfect Game USA for six years, helping at events like the WWBA tournaments that attract some of the top teams and top players in the country. He acknowledges that working at these events helps him spot players for his own program.

"Sure," he said. "We've had probably 12 guys, 15 guys, that we've gotten out of Perfect Game events over the years. Yeah, it definitely helps us."

Smith, named the NJCAA National Coach of the Year, said he's not worried about what he does for an encore at Howard College next season. He'll just take it one pitch, one at-bat, one inning at a time.

"Each season is a new season," he said. "That's the thing with junior college. We graduated 23 kids off this team. Hopefully '3' is the magic number: That's how many we have coming back again, for the second year in a row. And we'll see. You never know. I don't think anyone is going to go, 'Well, now we have to go 58-and-0.' In baseball, you don't think about going undefeated."

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