BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION — In a sport where dugouts often overflow with the noise of alloy bats smacking leather baseballs, chants and yells of encouragement, Smiths Station High School head coach Wesley Byrd finds himself leaning on two seniors who lead much differently.
Those players — Tanner Moody and Colton Watkins — are a scarce commodity on a 7A roster with few upperclassmen, and their presence carries an outsized weight as a result.
“You mentioned it verbatim; it’s strange that a 7A program only has two seniors,” Byrd said. “Tanner and Colton have been phenomenal for us. They’re quiet leaders. They’re not necessarily vocal. They don’t do a lot of rah-rah, high-energy yelling and things like that. They lead more by example.”
The Panthers celebrated Moody and Watkins with a 2-0 senior night win over Lee-Scott Academy on March 31. Despite the game being cut short by lightning just before the top of the fifth inning began, it was a cherished moment according to Byrd.
For Moody, just being able to take the mound this spring has been a victory in itself.
As a junior, the right-hander was the Panthers’ top pitcher and a reliable arm SSHS leaned on throughout the 2025 campaign.
However, a summer of travel ball came with a steep price. He tore his labrum, didn’t go under the knife until November and spent months in rehabilitation, wondering when, or if, his arm would feel like his own again.
The original plan had been to use him as a closer against the Warriors on senior night, with two innings mapped out for him after other pitchers initially carried the load. He finally threw live innings three days later against Valley High School in his first competitive action since last June.
At the same time, Watkins’ path to his senior season has been a different kind of journey.
He began his prep career in Smiths Station, growing up in the program during his junior high years. Then his family relocated to Columbus, Georgia, and he spent two years at Shaw High School before life brought him back to Lee County and the Panthers.
Since returning, Watkins has been a “blessing” according to Byrd. He’s taken over the catching position and settled into the heart of the lineup, where his bat and physical strength have made an immediate impression.
Behind the plate, Byrd is counting on him to anchor the defense and continue his run as one of the team’s most reliable producers in the batter’s box. And like Moody, he does it without fanfare.
SSHS has had its share of close calls this spring, with runners at second and third in the bottom of the seventh, a run behind and the game hanging in the balance. More than once, the Panthers have come up short in those moments.
Byrd is looking to his two seniors to help the younger players understand that adversity is not the end of the story. That message, he hopes, will take root in a program reliant on underclassmen who are still learning what it takes to win at the varsity level.
“They’re awesome,” Byrd said. “These are the two kinds of players that coaches would love to have in their program and build their program around.”
