Scout Smith, a young woman of many seasons.
Scout Smith has a snappy name and an even snappier game.
She’s only in the seventh grade, but has already excelled in five different sports, going to the highest level of her age group in her favorite, softball.
As a member of a select softball squad in Michigan, she helped carry the Lakeshore Pirates to the U10 Softball World Series in East Peoria, IL, where they came in fourth.
“My favorite sport is softball. I like softball because I have been around baseball as long as I can remember from watching my brothers (CJ and Hunter),” Smith said. “I love the adrenaline and excitement the game brings and I cherish the friends that I have made from playing softball.”
A family move to Whidbey last winter brought her and her older brothers to Coupeville. CJ is a junior at CHS, while Hunter is a freshman.
With the jump up from elementary school to middle school, Scout has picked up a new sport, as she’s deep into practice with the CMS 7th grade volleyball squad.
It’s her first year as a spiker, but the plucky Smith has been playing sports since her early days.
She played soccer from five to nine, cheered in third and fourth grade, started softball at age five and started shooting hoops at six.
Regardless of which sport she’s playing at a given time, Smith naturally gravitates towards being one of the players always ready to step forward and seize the moment.
“I think I am a good team leader that works hard and encourages my teammates,” she said.
A fan of her math and history classes who “loves all kinds of music and movies,” Smith, a huge Chicago Cubs diehard, would like to one day take her game to a higher level.
“I hope to play college softball for the University of Notre Dame or the University of Washington,” she said.
Already a savvy vet, even at a relatively young age, Smith is quick to spread the credit, calling out her supporters, both in family and out.
“My Pirate coaches, Noe Najera and Greg Younger, helped me improve my game and taught me to always work hard,” she said. “My parents and my brothers have always been supportive by cheering me on and making me raise the bar for myself to rise to the next level.”
