Festus High’s Jackson Smith was double trouble against De Soto High in the Class 5 District 1 championship.
Smith pitched a no-hitter and his double to lead off the seventh inning turned into the game-winning run he scored on a wild pitch by relief pitcher Will Weber, who didn’t record an out. Smith’s walk-off run gave the Tigers a 2-1 victory over the Dragons and their sixth consecutive District 1 title.
“I knew I had to lay off the first pitch,” said Smith, who will soon be attending the University of Michigan on a baseball scholarship. “I knew if I took the next pitch slow, he’d have to come back with a fastball, and he did just that. I turned on it and drove it down the line.”
Festus will play at Chaminade Prep in the state quarterfinals, starting the best 2-of-3 series on Friday, and concluding it on Saturday. The winner advances to the final four at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex on June 5-6. The Red Devils are a member of the Metro Catholic Conference, have a record of 20-14 and won state titles in 1992 and 1998. The Tigers, who were the top seed in their district, have been to the final four five times and won state in 2023. They were eliminated by another MCC school, Vianney, in last year’s quarterfinals.
“It’s tougher to win (best 2-of-3), but you have some leeway which is nice,” Festus head coach Jeff Montgomery said. “I think we’re set up pretty good. Vianney was loaded last year. That experience really paid off. We’ll be a tough team to beat.”
The hallmark of the Tiger streak of playoff appearances has been their pitching. Smith is one in a long line of pitchers the team has sent to the college ranks. He’s one of those rare high school prospects who can beat you on the mound and at the plate at the same time. He struck out 12 De Soto batters, but he was a bit wild, walking five and uncorking two wild pitches. The game was delayed an hour because of rain, and a light mist continued all game.
“Most of the balls were wet, so I kept going back to the rosin bag to keep my hand dry,” Smith said. “When my fingertips were wet, the ball slipped out and I had a couple of wild pitches.”
With the game between Jefferson County Activities Association rivals tied 1-1 in the seventh, Smith doubled and Brayden Beers was intentionally walked to set up the double play. But Weber plunked Jackson ljames with a pitch to load the bases, and with Cale Schaumburg at the plate with two strikes, Weber was wild and Smith rushed home to win the district.
Austin Milton pitched the first six innings for De Soto (No. 7 seed, 13-16) and matched Smith the whole way. The other run the Tigers scored was in the first when Cooper Schilly led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Brayden Good’s RBI single. Milton didn’t walk anyone and struck out four.
“He leads us in innings for a reason,” De Soto head coach Kyle Huey said. “If you’d ask anybody in the baseball world in Jefferson County and told them Austin would lead us in innings by the end of the year, they’d said, ‘You’re crazy.’ But he stepped up and filled that role and he did exactly what we knew he could do in this game.”
Milton understood his assignment of going head-to-head with Smith.
“Jackson is a plus arm and great competitor, but our game is find ways to get on base and wreak havoc when you get there,” Huey said. “We haven’t been a team to string together five, six, seven hits in an inning. We understand our identity and aren’t going to change it based on the situation. We’re going to find ways on base with quality at-bats and go first to home like Blake Coleman did today.”
Another one of many plus-arms in the JCAA this year, Coleman tied the game 1-1 in the third. Coleman drew a two-out walk off Smith and scored on an error. Coleman, who is signed to play at Southeast Missouri State University, pitched a complete game when De Soto upset No. 2 Farmington 3-1 in the first round of districts.
“We limited his innings this year to keep him fresh for (districts), and we gave him three runs, and he shut the door,” Huey said.
Festus beat De Soto 11-3 and 4-1 in their two conference meetings. The rivals split a pair of 1-0 games in 2025.
“De Soto, unbelievable effort,” Montgomery said. “I told Coach Huey I saw something special in their team the opening week. They had a great game plan. Milton pitched his butt off.”
Despite all of their success in this decade, Montgomery said this season was challenging, even for seniors like Smith and Schaumburg, who’s going to Southwestern Illinois College.
“The kids continue to grow and step up,” Montgomery said. “I can’t say enough about Jackson Smith. He willed himself to get it done. That’s what special players do in these moments. That double was the key. We’ve had some tough games where we didn’t play very well. There were some hard talks. They have responded. They wanted this really bad.”