Before he steps foot on the campus in August at the University of Michigan as a freshman, Jackson Smith already understands the meaning of tradition.
That’s because the Festus Tigers baseball team has fostered three decades of winning by never losing focus of teaching players the fundamentals under head coach Jeff Montgomery and assistant coach Barry Stafford. Montgomery was selected the coach of the year in the Jefferson County Activities Association large-schools, and Smith was named the player of the year. The coaches for
De Soto, Festus, Hillsboro, Windsor and Perryville do the voting. Festus won the conference championship.
“They’re great coaches,” Smith said. “They know what we need to work on. Most coaches don’t look at the little things like bunt defense and first and third stuff like happens during games, but we practice that all the time. It’s a very competitive conference. We played a lot of one-run games against De Soto and Hillsboro. The competitiveness is the thing I’m going to miss.”
Smith was on the varsity in 2023 when the Tigers won their only state championship. Festus was second in Class 5 the year before that, and it’s won six consecutive District 1 titles. Smith was a big part of four of those. Since winning state, the Tigers have been ousted in the quarterfinals by Webster Groves, Vianney and Chaminade. Since Smith’s freshman year, Festus has a record of 89-42-1.
With a year of varsity under his belt, Smith exploded on the scene his sophomore year, going 7-0 with a microscopic ERA of .70. Smith was teamed up with Mason Schirmer that year, another talented lefty who struck out 107 batters in 61 innings that year. A 2025 Festus graduate, Schirmer played with fellow graduate Brady Nolen at Crowder College in Neosho.
No one can argue that the Tigers have had an embarrassment of riches in the lefthanded pitching department. When Cale Schaumburg transferred from Crystal City to Festus before his junior year, he replaced Schirmer as Smith’s sidekick and gave the Tigers an advantage over most teams. Having two college-bound lefties (Schaumburg has signed with Southwestern Illinois College) gave Festus the advantage during the conference’s home-and-home series. Schaumburg was elevated from second team to first team all-JCAA this season.
Smith was a plus-pitcher, meaning he could just as easily take over a game at the plate, as De Soto found out in the District 1 championship. Smith doubled to lead off the eighth inning in a game he was pitching a no-hitter before scoring the game-winning run. He led the Tigers in batting average (.422), doubles (14) and RBIs (36).
“For Jackson Smith to be so good on the mound and then lead the conference in hits offensively is impressive. He is a great athlete,” Montgomery said. “To have Cale and Jackson both hold down the two first-team pitcher spots shows how hard they worked to get to that level but also the impact they had on conference coaches to vote them both in as first teamers.”
Montgomery said the Tigers couldn’t slow down a hot Chaminade team in 5-0 and 17-4 defeats. The Red Devils ran into an even hotter St. Dominic in the state semifinals June 5 in a 16-8 defeat. The Crusaders beat Willard (9-8) to win the state championship. Chaminade beat Platte County to finish fourth.
“I told them all year we would win districts, but you better be prepared because it is not going to be easy,” Montgomery said. “We only had three seniors but they are some tough ones to lose to graduation. The juniors went through a lot of struggles last year, so I was very proud how (Brayden) Good and (Cooper) Schilly delivered offensively this year and how they played in all facets.”
Smith is playing for a club team this summer before going to join the Wolverines, who won the NCAA national championship in football in 2023 and the NCAA men’s basketball championship in April. Although it’s in Columbus on Nov. 28, Smith will get to experience what the Michigan/Ohio State football rivalry is like from the inside. These are exciting times to be a Wolverine.
“I have the drive to compete with anybody out there,” Smith said. “They (Michigan) had a young pitching staff. In Division I baseball there’s a lot of great hitters, and if you miss, the ball’s going over the wall. I’m going to college and will keep my mindset where it is and keep competing.”
Jefferson County Activities Association large-schools baseball
First team
Infield: Brayden Good, Festus; Blake Coleman, De Soto; Max Partney, Hillsboro; Cooper Schilly, Festus
Outfield: Jackson Smith, Festus; Trey Blair, De Soto; Cole Wynn, Hillsboro
Pitcher: Jackson Smith, Festus; Cale Schaumburg, Festus
Catcher: Levi McCullough, De Soto
Utility: Keegan Wells, Hillsboro
Second team
Infield: Lincoln Forchee, Windsor; Will Weber, De Soto; Waylon Huber, Perryville; Brayden Beers, Festus
Outfield: Gideon Stueve, Perryville; Jackson ljames, Festus; Hunter Hoban, Hillsboro
Pitcher: Austin Milton, De Soto; Jackson Marks, Hillsboro
Catcher: Barrett Wheeler, Perryville
Utility: Brody Green, Windsor
Honorable mention
Infield: Hunter Grewe, Hillsboro; Bryce Weber, Perryville; Connor Heister, De Soto; Henry Brown, Festus; Nolan Lawrence, Windsor
Outfield: Ethan Shirk, Windsor; Bryce Weber, Perryville; Lincoln Forchee, Windsor; Brody Green, Windsor; Bryce Weber, Perryville
Player of the Year: Jackson Smith, Festus
Coach of the Year: Jeff Montgomery, Festus