From our February 8, 2001, edition.

CHS to debut baseball, softball this spring 

Sandy Anderberg, Clarendon Enterprise

After much thought and anticipation, baseball and softball will be a UIL sport at Clarendon High School this year.

A full baseball and softball schedule is in place with District, Non-District games, and tournaments.  According to Head Baseball Coach Danny Brittain, there are two other teams in our District that offer baseball.  They are West Texas High and Wellington. 

The Broncos will play each District team three times.  Coach Brittain said he looked for there to be more schools in our District that will offer baseball next year.

“We are looking for a good year,” said Brittain, who will be assisted by Coach Roger Hoeltzel.   “We’re excited about the season, and we hope to have a good group of guys come out to play.” 

He also cited that they might have the numbers for a JV squad.  If that happens, they would play only once a week and not the same schedule that the varsity members would play.

Baseball has been around a long time in Clarendon. The kids are very familiar with the game, and summer league has been a huge success for Clarendon. Coach Brittain doesn’t anticipate any big differences for High School baseball compared to Summer League.

“Basically everything will be the same.  The biggest adjustment will be the bat weight.  The rules state that the bat must be no more than three ounces lighter than its entire length”. 

The baseball season will get underway with the Broncos going up against the Perryton JV on February 23 at home.  District games begin March 20 with the last game being played April 24.  All three teams will automatically qualify for the play offs, which will begin after their last regular season game.

All games will be played on McLellan Field at City Park with an exception of one game which will be played at Clarendon College’s new Bulldog Field on April 24.

Lady Bronco softball will also debut at Clarendon High School. 

“We’re really excited about the fact that we are getting softball here at CHS,” said Coach Kathy Barton.  “We’ve got a lot of girls signing up.  We’ll have enough to have a JV squad also.”

The biggest change from summer league softball for the girls will be that high school softball is fast-pitch.  “It’s a faster-paced game than the regular softball in the summer,” said Barton.

West Texas High is the only other team in the District.  The Lady Broncos will play them three times in district play, and both teams automatically advance to Bi-District level play on April 28 and Area play on May 5.

“We haven’t scheduled any games that will conflict with track meets,” said Barton.  “We won’t interfere with track workouts either.  And of course, while we’re still in basketball play offs, we won’t start any softball workouts.”

All softball games will be played at Hart-Moore Field at City Park .