By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
CLAY – Clay Chalkville Cougars Head Baseball Coach Landon Robinson is looking to bring the winning ways back to the baseball program in Clay, Alabama and he is using both future players and past players to garner as much interest in the program as he can.
The Cougar baseball program has been through some tough times since their last playoff appearance in 2016. Since that time, the Cougars have been a mid-level baseball team with a few coaching changes and no post season appearances. Robinson is looking to end that 10-year drought at the varsity level, but he is also looking to gain some community involvement through working with the younger players, hosting a youth baseball camp in July, as well as bringing in some of the “old hats” by inviting them back to Clay for an alumni softball game in August.
One Cougar alum is heavily involved in the festivities over this summer. Justin Burdette, a 2012 graduate who has returned to Clay on a couple of occasions, serves as an assistant on both the baseball and football teams for the Cougars. He played baseball at Clay until his junior year and played football until graduating and playing collegiate football with Southern Mississippi and then finishing his college career at Central Arkansas.
Burdette had the following to say about his new role at Clay as well as his involvement with the camp and alumni games, “I am excited to be back at Clay Chalkville and coaching again. Being able to join coach Robinson and be a helping hand to him is something I am happy to do. Coach Robinson hasn’t had a lot of consistent help on the coaching staff since he took over so my job is to do everything he needs in order to make his job easier. With baseball at clay there is not a ton of help when it comes to field maintenance and other things necessary that some other schools may get so being able to get some of our former players back and helping out will be something that will be big for our program. Clay is home to me and being back to serve this community and help both the football and baseball program is something that means a lot to me. I look forward to seeing some of the former guys that use to wear the Cougar uniform back at the Alumni game and also back at the youth camp giving back to the kids of our community.”
Coach Robinson has been at Clay for the past 4 years, recording 23-48-1 record with minimal help on his staff. Robinson knows the potential that the Cougars have on the field and he believes that they can get back to the glory days of Clay Chalkville Baseball.
“Clay Chalkville Baseball has a rich past with a lot of good teams from the early 2000s and through 2020 with many players making it to the next level. We are excited to welcome back some of those guys to kick off the first annual CCHS baseball alumni softball game. Baseball use to be a big part of CCHS and our goal is to get the city and students back excited about it and hopefully bring back some of the success it once had.”
Details on the events are as follows:
Baseball Youth Camp: July 18-19 9:00 am – 1:00 pm daily. Price is $65 per camper. Open to all upcoming second-seventh graders. Pizza will be provided for lunch. Snacks will be available to purchase at concession stands.
CCHS Alumni Softball Game: August 5 at 1:00 pm. Open to any former CCHS Baseball player. All players will receive a t-shirt for attending. There will be concessions and food trucks available. Deadline for sign up will be Thursday, July 20th.
There are QR codes in the photos that you can click on for more information on each of these events.
There are also renovations going on inside the baseball locker rooms as well as the field and these men, along with a few others, would welcome any donations of money or time that you are willing to give in order to make Clay Chalkville a better baseball facility. The sponsorship packages in the graphic below show your giving options. Contact coach Robinson for any questions or to see how you can help out. Lrobinson@jefcoed.com.
