Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Greensburg Salem’s Grant Smith

By: Anthony DiFilippo
Monday, March 25, 2024 | 8:41 AM

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Last year, Greensburg Salem’s baseball team went 13-6, 7-3 in the section, and qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.

Grant Smith, the starting first baseman for the Golden Lions, has the utmost confidence in the team building off last season’s performance.

“We’re going to be able to have that confidence going into the season that we’re one of the better teams out there,” Smith said. “Every time that I show up to practice, all the kids want to be there, and I love to see that.”

Smith was the best hitter on the team last year, hitting .469.

One game was a big help with his batting average: He drove in all seven runs against McGuffey on April 20.

This came off a loss to the Highlanders the previous night.

“Right after that loss the night before, that energy, honestly, I’d put it up there in the top three in my favorite games to play in all-time,” Smith said. “Everybody was there. The whole entire school was there up on the hill. It was an amazing feeling to be a part of that.”

Smith is one of six returning starters for Greensburg Salem, and it’s a group that has been together for a while.

“Everybody that is returning this year, we’re all a really close-knit group of friends. We all like to have fun with each other,” Smith said. “It kind of brings a combination of competitiveness and trying to bring out the best baseball players in each other but the best personal attributes of each other.”

He also has participated in golf and swimming at the high school level, but he no longer swims.

There’s a good reason for that. Smith’s been spending time working with Mini-THON, which raises money for pediatric cancer.

Smith is planning on attending Tennessee and majoring in economics.

He decided to not play baseball in college: “I feel very confident and good about myself going out with a team like this, because baseball’s been such a big part of my life for so many years.”

In the early part of the season, Smith took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started with baseball?

Basically, when I was younger, my parents were like, “Hey, do you want to play sports?” Just basic parenting stuff. I was like, “Sure, I’ll play baseball.” I ended up joining a few friends on this one team for Hempfield, and it just started off from there. Ever since then, it’s been every summer.

What are your team and personal goals for this year?

Some of our team’s goals, obviously, are to win the section, win a couple of playoff games. You want to go as deep as you can, obviously. Not necessarily put too much pressure on ourselves to be the absolute best team out there, just necessarily be who we are, and everybody comes together as a team. Personal goals, I’d say just try to be a leader for the younger kids. After this year, I don’t want the program to die out. I just want everybody to succeed and everyone to feel good about being there. You want it to be fun, obviously, so I guess there’s that.

What is your approach to mentoring some of the younger kids on the team?

Just be a role model in terms of something like hitting. I feel very good about giving tiny pointers here and there. Not being too stern with it, because that can go in the absolute wrong direction if you are too hard on them. But everybody seems to have their ears up and listen. If you show your confidence, they’ll be more confident in learning from you, then just anybody else.

What’s one thing that people might not know about you?

I’m actually colorblind. That’s like my little icebreaker answer. I kind of just tag along with that one. My friends like to mess with me about it. It’s all fun and games. Coloring is not my favorite thing to do. Whenever a teacher’s like, “All right, we’re going to do a common activity now.” No, it’s not common for me. I have to put my mind more to that then pretty much anything else.

Is there a player in MLB you try to emulate?

I’d say Freddie Freeman. He’s such a great fielder, and obviously clutch moments in the playoffs, like when they went for that World Series title with the Braves. I just love watching Freddie Freeman play.

Is there anything from golf that helps with baseball or vice versa?

Kind of just move on to the next swing. If you have a good swing, great, take that into the next one. If you have a bad swing, forget about it, and go to the next one with a clear mind. You obviously want to remember little things like where you messed up or where you can do better. But you don’t want to say “Hey, don’t do that again.” You never want to hear the word “don’t” in the back of your mind. You want to hear, “How can I get better at it?”