By Gary Lloyd
CLAY — Clay-Chalkville last season sat and watched as Pinson Valley reached the Class 5A semifinals and Hewitt-Trussville played for the Class 6A state championship in Montgomery.
The Cougars have been eliminated in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs five of the last six seasons. In 2010, Clay-Chalkville reached the third round.
First-year head coach Bubba Roberts wants to reach the playoffs, the ultimate goal to load up a bus in May and head south on Interstate 65 until the Montgomery exits are visible. He knows Clay-Chalkville has been bounced in the first round the past three seasons.
“Obviously we’d like to surpass that,” Roberts said after the Cougars’ sweep of Pinson Valley on Opening Day on Feb. 17.
Roberts said the focus is on getting better each practice and each game.
“We’ve got a lot of, lot of, lot of work to do,” he said.
Senior outfielder Braxton Parvin said the team is taking it one day at a time.
“We are starting with the end in mind,” Parvin said. “We’ve had great seasons in the past but not as great in (the) playoffs. This year everything we do is working toward that one goal of trying to get to Montgomery.”
Fellow senior outfielder Darius Baldwin agreed with Parvin.
“We just want to take everything one game at a time,” Baldwin said. “We feel as if we are more experienced and have been in that situation before, so it won’t surprise us being in that situation this year. Instead of dwelling on the fact that we haven’t made it past the first round in a few years, we’re using that as motivation.”
Junior pitcher Matthew Calvert said last year that the team getting to where it wants to go begins with setting the bar high and expecting to reach its goals.
“If you set your expectations high and go out and play your best baseball and give it all you have day in and day out, you’ll achieve that goal and raise that trophy,” Calvert said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.