CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Rotary Club Baseball and Softball Season Kickoff was held at First Baptist Church on Wednesday, where Montgomery County’s high school baseball and softball coaches came together to discuss the start of the 2022–23 season.
A majority of the Clarksville-area coaches attended the luncheon and spoke about their teams and everything transpiring behind the scenes.
Topics included the maturity of their teams, the loss of key players following graduation, the leadership shown by student-athletes early in the season and facility improvements over the off-season.
However, one of the more intriguing topics of conversation came when a group of coaches gave thanks to their fellow peers.
Coaches speak on togetherness
During the first week of March, Clarksville was plagued by damaging weather and 79-mile-per-hour winds. The entirety of Montgomery County was affected by these storms, which resulted in a number of baseball and softball fields being damaged.
Following the bad weather, coaches came together to help one another out. This includes Northwest head softball coach Blake Lyons, who detailed that Chris Benne (Northwest baseball coach) and Chris Jackson (Montgomery County softball coach) helped clean up the softball field at Northwest.
Thanks to their efforts, Northwest Softball has its field ready to go for the 2022–23 season.
Another team affected by the weather was Clarksville High baseball. To this date, their field cannot be played on due to the damages.
However, Clarksville High baseball coach Brian Hetland told spectators that Dustin Smith (Clarksville Academy baseball coach) and Parker Holman (Rossview baseball coach) allowed CHS access to their fields to play their home games.
Clarksville-area coaches
On Wednesday, a number of new head coaches were introduced and touched base on the process of building a foundation within their basketball programs. The majority of coaches in attendance were returning head coaches, however.
Here is the list:
Names | School |
---|---|
Dustin Smith | CA Baseball Coach |
Todd Kurtz | CA Softball Coach |
Brian Hetland | CHS Baseball Coach |
Brian Rush | CHS Softball Coach |
Tyler Mosley | KHS Baseball Coach |
Lakeesha Fields | KHS Coach |
Todd Dunn | MCHS Baseball Coach |
Chris Jackson | MCHS Softball Coach |
Charles Ratliff | NEHS Baseball Coach |
William Warren | NEHS Softball Coach |
Chris Benne | NWHS Baseball Coach |
Blake Lyons | NWHS Softball Coach |
Parker Holman | RHS Baseball Coach |
Marcus Ratcliff | RHS Softball Coach |
Clinton Magnuson | WCHS Baseball Coach |
John Jordan | WCHS Softball Coach |