By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
CLAY – The Clay-Chalkville Cougar baseball team’s 2023 season was not what they were looking for. 2024 looked to be a big turn-around year for the Cougars and they have done just that. While the record is still not exactly what they would want, this team has made big improvements over their 4-19-1 season and they have finished the 2024 season with a 10-11 record, narrowly missing the playoffs.
Clay-Chalkville baseball seniors on Senior Night.
Photo by: Brooke Griffin Haynes
The Cougars started the week 8-10 and a loss to Gardendale on Monday (7-1) to make them 8-11.
After the tough loss, Clay looked to bounce back on Senior Night at home on Friday night. The Cougars took on the Ramsay Rams and got the 5-2 win. Ramsay got on the board first, going up 1-0 in the first inning. Clay batters Tyler Griffin and Malyc Grant both got hit by a pitch to get on base. Xavier Edwards grounded out, but Griffin scored to tie the game up. A Richard Cantrell double brought Grant home to make it 2-1 to end the first inning. After three scoreless innings, the fifth inning would look a lot like the first with the Rams scoring one and Clay driving in two to answer. The Cougars would get another one in the sixth inning to make it a 5-2 final. Austin Ray picked up the win for the Cougars, going 5-plus innings, allowing a hit and two runs and striking out seven. Edwards got the save, going the final inning and allowing no hits nor runs and striking out three. Edwards also got it done at the plate, driving in two runs while Cantrell and Nic Youngblood added an RBI each.
On Monday, the Cougars headed over to Odenville to take on the Saint Clair County Saints and came away with a hard-fought 3-1 win. The Saints put one up in the first inning and held Clay scoreless until the fourth. The Cougars scored on an error by the Saints that brought home D Kendrick and Xavier Edwards to make it 2-1 after four. Clay would add a run in the sixth when Dorian Daniel singled to right field and brought home Malyc Grant for the final score of the night. Edwards went the distance, pitching all seven innings. He allowed just two hits and one run while striking out six in the game. Richard Cantrell brought two runs to the plate in the game while Daniel added the third.
The Saint Clair County game ended the Cougars’ season and, while they did not make the playoffs due to area alignment, they can hold the heads up high knowing that the program is headed in the right direction after such a great improvement.
An optimistic Landon Robinson said the following about his team and the turn around they made and the future of Clay-Chalkville Baseball, “I give all the credit to this senior class and the way they handled their leadership roles. We have been needing leadership the last couple years and this group stepped up big and I think that’s been the reason for the positive turnaround. Last year we’d make a couple errors or have a bad inning and the dugout was deflated. They didn’t allow that to happen this year. We had several big wins this year and lost some close games to some good teams. I am excited for next year too because we have a big group of kids coming up that have already gotten a lot of playing time this year so when they become everyday starters next year, they will be ready.”
