Clayton Hensley of Porters Chapel Academy stands on first base and listens to PCA coach Randy Wright, right, during the Academy A-AA All-Star Game Saturday. At left is North first baseman Price Donahoo of Humphreys County. (The Vicksburg Post/CHAD APPLEBAUM)

[06/04/01] JACKSON Saturday’s Academy A-AA All-Star Game started out as one to forget for Porters Chapel Academy’s Heath Smith and Clayton “Catfish” Hensley. Even though their South squad lost, the ending made it special.

Trailing 13-2 heading into the ninth inning, Smith scored two runs and drove in another with a single as part of a 10-run rally by the South that came up just short. The North hung on for a 13-12 win.

“After we scored five or six runs, (Heidelberg’s Scott) McInnis was in there and he started getting frustrated. We started getting in his head,” said Smith, who went 1-for-3 on the day. “We almost pulled it off.”

Hensley, the South’s starting shortstop, went 1-for-2 with an infield single and two walks before leaving in the eighth inning. He was stranded all three times he reached base, however, and also made an error that led to a North run.

“Offensively, I did my job at the plate, but I didn’t play well defensively,” said Hensley, who also played three innings in center field. “I’m going to be honest, I was real nervous. I’ve never played in front of that many scouts before and had that many talking to me before. I just hope somebody saw my potential and gives me a call.”

Smith and Hensley also played two innings together in the middle infield Saturday, at second base and shortstop. They didn’t get a chance to turn a double play, but Hensley said it was a fun way to play part of his last high school game.

“Getting to play with Heath made it worthwhile. We spent a lot of time together this week. We went to Panama City (Fla.) for three days and then came back here for this,” Hensley said. “My senior trip consisted of Panama City and baseball, and it was the best senior trip I could have hoped for.”

Smith started the game in left field the first time in his high school career he had played in the outfield before moving to second base in the third inning.

He left the game in the seventh inning, but re-entered to a shower of boos as he relieved Huntington’s Barrett Kiser. Kiser was the South’s most effective pitcher on the day, striking out both batters he faced. He was the only South pitcher to that point who didn’t allow at least three hits and two runs.

“We had Smith scheduled to pitch the ninth inning, and it started looking more and more like there wasn’t going to be a ninth inning, so we wanted to get him in there,” said PCA coach Randy Wright, who was serving as an assistant coach for the South.

Smith walked one batter and allowed another to reach on an error before striking out North Sunflower’s Matt Cummins to end the inning. Although he only threw 1/3 of an inning, Smith was in line to become the winner if the South could have pulled off the ninth-inning miracle.

He started the rally by getting hit by a pitch with one out, and scored on an RBI double by Huntington’s Luke Davis. It took three North pitchers to squelch the rally, as the South had only three hits in the inning but took advantage of two dropped throws at first base, three walks and four hit batters including two walks and two hit batters with the bases loaded.

Finally, Kirk Academy’s Justin Timbs, who had allowed two hits and an unearned run in the two innings before the ninth, came back to the mound and struck out Wilkinson County’s Shannon Day to end the game.

“I’ve played a lot of baseball, and that was the craziest last inning I’ve ever seen,” Hensley said.