By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Travis Smith was not among the high school players selected in this week’s Major League Baseball amateur draft. He was considered a prospect going into his senior season at Walton-Verona High School, but an injury dropped him off the list.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander needed surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament inside the right elbow of his pitching arm. The procedure was first performed in 1974 on pitcher Tommy John and the surgery now bears his name.
Travis Smith
Dr. Timothy Kremchek, an orthopedic surgeon and team physician and for the Cincinnati Reds, performed the procedure on Smith, according to Walton-Verona baseball coach Clint Coleman.
The coach said Smith began having trouble with his arm in April when he pitched six innings in a game against Lexington Christian Academy during the All “A” Classic small-school state tournament.
“He was originally diagnosed with a strained pronator muscle in his forearm, the only discomfort he was having, and was told he could pitch if there was no pain and pitched two games after it actually happened,” Coleman said in an email. “His velocity was still down after those two outings and Kremchek diagnosed him with the injury.”
Smith continued playing as a first baseman for the Bearcats and had surgery after the season ended. In 32 games, he had a team-high .416 batting average to go along with a 4-2 pitching record and 3.14 ERA. He had 78 strikeouts in 35.2 innings and gave up only 19 hits.
Smith was named first-team all-state by the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association. He made a commitment with the University of Kentucky in 2018 and signed a letter of intent in May. But he’ll probably have to put his baseball career on hold for another year while recovering from surgery.
Local wrestler on U.S. team competing in world championships
Local high school athletes have been competing all around the country this summer, but Spencer Moore needed a passport to wrestle in the Cadet Freestyle World Championships that began Wednesday in Budapest, Hungary.
A recent graduate of Walton-Verona High School, Moore qualified for the international tournament by winning the 55 kilograms (120 pounds) weight class at the Cadet Freestyle National Championships in April.
Spencer Moore
Moore’s family started a GoFundMe webpage to raise money for him to attend USA Wrestling team training camps in South Dakota and North Carolina and cover personal expenses for the trip.
Jason Moore, the wrestler’s father, said they received tremendous support from the local community, wrestling organizations and “generous members of the wrestling family from all over Kentucky” to afford the training and trip.
This year, Moore was named the state’s top senior wrestler by the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association after winning his second straight state championship to cap a perfect 27-0 season. He will continue his wrestling and academic career at the University of North Carolina.
Moore is an outstanding student who tested out of his junior year to join this year’s graduating class at Walton-Verona. He has a 4.0 grade-point average and was ranked among the top five in the senior class. He plans to study actuarial science at North Carolina.
Last year, North Carolina had wrestlers from 20 states on its roster, but none of them were from Kentucky.
Fusion won basketball tournament with girls from local high schools
Kentucky Fusion, a girls basketball team made up of local high school players who will graduate in 2024, won the Blue Division championship trophy at the Run4theRoses Classic national tournament in Louisville last week.
Fusion won three games in pool play to earn a berth in their division’s eight-team Platinum Championship Bracket. After winning their next two games by double-digit margins, Fusion defeated Heart of Illinois, 30-21, to take the top trophy.
Fusion coach Jason Litz has nine players from eight high schools on his roster. The players are Logan Palmer and Meleah Alexander (Cooper), Anna Hamilton (Conner), Julia Hunt (Holy Cross), Bella Crawford (Dixie Heights), Kendra Collins (Notre Dame), Kayla Unkraut (St. Henry), Ava Slusser (Simon Kenton) and Jolee Litz (Williamstown).
The last tournament on the team’s summer schedule is The Finale at Sports Plus in Cincinnati on July 23-24.
