Sports facilities upgrades take place pending resumption of activities

Marc Rogers / Sports Extra
Posted 6/18/20

Sports facilities upgrades take place

pending resumption of activities

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Sports facilities upgrades take place pending resumption of activities

Posted

CLINTON — As most of you have noticed, sports are in hiding.  Some restrictions have been lifted, but not very much.  
Teams can now meet with social distancing, no use of any athletic equipment.  Basically, the teams can meet with their coaches and run, with some weightlifting as deemed needed.  
So, what is happening on the fields of dreams you might ask.  For Clinton High School and Clinton Junior High School, quite a bit.  At the high school baseball diamond, the visitors’ dugout has been removed and is being rebuilt to match the home team dugout, and there are plans to completely refurbish the infield as was done with the main softball diamond.   There is new padding for the softball diamond, concrete backstop also.  And at the football field, the track is being resurfaced.  
As for the junior high baseball venue,  the batting cage and storage shed area are going to be upgraded to include a concession area and ...get ready, restooms!  

Some of this had been planned for a while, but with the current shelter-in-place in effect and no sports on the field, it seemed the perfect time to make a few well needed upgrades for when the students and fans return.  
And there is one other addition to the spots arena.  There is a new flagpole at the main softball diamond.  
Before now, people had to guess where to face when the national anthem was played because there was no flag visible in the area.  Clinton AMVET Post #14 had received a new huge flagpole donated by Ameren and had their other flagpole to remove.  
They discussed a remedy for the removal and they decided to donate the flagpole to the high school for placement at the softball complex.  This donation was two-fold in that it was made in honor of high school principal and school board member (and softball coach) Ron Conner and AMVET, Dennis Davenport, who established the Dennis Davenport Scholarship Fund for Clinton High School students.  (The scholarships are awarded every year by Clinton AMVET Post #14.)  
Both men were passionate about providing better educational possibilities for the local students.  There is also a plaque commemorating the flagpole and the plaque and flagpole can be found outside the right-center field fence near the scoreboard.  
The telescoping pole is not visible until it is raised for games, but the plaque is visible from the stands.  There us a dedication ceremony planned for the first home opener of the softball season, possibly for both the junior high and high school seasons.