Canyon’s Smith Caps Hot Week With Key Hits

No one player carried Canyon to the Southern Section Division II title game. But no one player had a better championship week than Canyon designated hitter Brandon Smith.

If Smith, a lanky junior (6-4, 185), was looking for the perfect capper to the seven-RBI performance he had in Tuesday’s semifinal win over Tustin, how about driving in the key runs of the Comanches’ 5-1 victory over Upland?

In the bottom of the first, Smith’s single drove in Mike Tomarelli to give Canyon a 2-1 lead--a lead it never lost.

And in the fifth, his booming double off the left-field fence drove in Bobby Fry, which started a two-run inning that gave winning pitcher Jeff Leuenberger a necessary cushion.

A ball that probably goes out of Blair Field in the daytime.

“I wondered if he had saved any RBIs after Tuesday,” Leuenberger said.

“It was amazing that he hit a ball like that here at this time of night,” Canyon Coach Mike Najera said. “It shows how strong he is.”

Smith, who finished the season with 41 runs batted in, called his nine-RBI week “wondrous,” adding that he loves the pressure of big games.

“I couldn’t tell you why, though. I don’t know why it is, but I love pressure,” Smith said. “I also knew I had a drop off toward the end of [the Century] league and I had to step it up.”

Leuenberger expected nothing less. Smith was the one player who wasn’t caught up in the intensity that playoffs can sometimes cause.

“He’s very laid-back,” Leuenberger said. “He was never really nervous.”

Smith apparently loves the fastball, although Canyon assistant coach Wayne Elmore wonders why teams keep trying to throw it by Smith.

“They think they can get it past him because he has such a big swing,” Elmore said. “He doesn’t have great [running] speed, but he has explosive hands.”

The double in the fifth was Smith’s first of the year. He has 29 hits.

“I’m just glad I got hot during the playoffs,” Smith said.

And are there any other big performances left? “Just wait,” he said. “We’re definitely doing this again next year.”