Waiting over for longtime Sheridan coach

It took 30 years, but it finally happened.

Mike Moore and his Sheridan Yellowjackets won the Class 6A state baseball championship, and consequently, Moore has been named Tri-Lakes Edition Diamond Sports Coach of the Year.

“It’s been real exciting,” Moore said of the experiences since his team beat the Benton Panthers 10-9 at Baum Stadium on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “It’s fulfilling. You have finally attained what you have been trying to do. It’s been overwhelming at times, what’s gone on the last few weeks.”

Moore’s 30 years in coaching didn’t start and end with baseball during the high school season. He has manned the dugout during American Legion summer baseball and has been an assistant football coach, as well as a classroom teacher.

But baseball has always been a main focus for Moore, whose teams have been talented enough to win state championships, but the crown has eluded the ’Jackets since Moore restarted the baseball program in 1986.

“I’d say it feels like I’ve been carrying a big ape on my shoulders,”

Moore said of his championship drought. “He finally got off — finally got rid of that big ape.”

That weight has been on Moore’s mind more lately.

“The last few years, I’ve probably thought more and more about that,” Moore said, “but I just know from having been there a couple of times and from friends of mine, how many people have not accomplished that. I just know it’s a hard thing to do.”

Sheridan has been a constant in the 6A state tournament baseball bracket for the past several years, and Moore’s team has made it to Baum Stadium twice, but a win on the Razorback’s home field had eluded the Yellowjackets — and nearly did so again in 2015.

The difference in the 2015 Yellowjackets and those other squads that got close to a title is minuscule in Moore’s mind.

“Every team will go through a two- or three-week period where they will play their very best,” Moore said. “I think we’ve never been that team that was playing their very best at the very end. We were lucky enough to hit our peak and play our very best in the last two weeks of the season.”

The memories of that final inning remain with Moore, and he described his thoughts in detail.

“I remember thinking, ‘We are either going to win it, or we are not going to win it,’” Moore said.

“I remember thinking, ‘One more out,’” Moore said. “I thought about our girls softball team the year before, and it’s not over until the last out.”

Ironically, the Lady Yellowjackets in 2014 lost to Benton in the bottom of the seventh on a three-run walk-off home run.

As Moore’s mind shifted back to the game before him, he said, he had made celebratory plans before the final winning out was made. He was simply going to watch his players.

“I just wanted to watch everybody — just the excitement — so many people were so happy,” Moore said.

The community has naturally embraced the team and re-embraced Moore.

“People see you around town, and they are just excited for you, and excited about [the championship],” Moore said.

Phone calls from former players have poured in, and youngsters on the way to high school are excited for an opportunity to play for a coach who, while he’s getting older, said he’s not quite done yet.

“I know I’m not going to do this much longer,” Moore said, “but I do have a daughter in the 10th grade that’s going to go to college, so I’ve got a few more years.”

Good players remain from Sheridan’s championship team after seven graduated, so the cupboard isn’t bare.

Whether or not Moore will taste that state championship victory again, he can still drive around town and see the congratulatory barn signs, the billboards and all of the individual accolades he has received, and one thing is certain.

The weight of not winning a championship — as well as the wait — is definitely over.

Staff writer Bruce Guthrie can be reached at (501) 378-3527 or bguthrie@arkansasonline.com.

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