Yellowjackets aim for novel back-to-back titles
Sheridan knows a thing or two about winning baseball championships. The Yellowjackets have brought a state crown back to Grant County every other year since capturing their first one in 2015.
If history is any indication, Sheridan is due for another title.
The Yellowjackets will begin their quest when they play Greenwood today in the first round of the Class 5A state baseball tournament at Nettleton High School in Jonesboro. State tournament play also begins today for softball and soccer teams throughout the state, and according to Sheridan Coach Mike Moore, it’s a welcome sight after the way the 2020 seasons unfolded.
Most spring sports programs were left with bitter tastes in their mouths after covid-19 caused play to be canceled a week or two after it began. Sheridan had hopes of winning a second consecutive championship after it won the title the year before. Unfortunately for Moore, his team never got that chance.
Now, they’ll try to do so in an unconventional way.
“Being the defending state champs and it being two years later before you get to defend your title, it’s kind of been a long time coming,” said Moore, whose Yellowjackets also won a championship in 2017. “We felt like last year we had a really good group that missed out on an opportunity to do something special, and to not even get the chance to defend their title was really tough. So this year to come back, we kind of feel a double burden to bring it home for those other guys as well.
“But it’s hard to win it once, much less back-toback.”
The prospects of the Yellowjackets continuing their title-winning trend has gone up as the season has progressed. Sheridan (23-7) had a stretch where it lost three out of four games during a six-day period in mid-March. That slide left the Yellowjackets at 7-3, but a 4-2 victory over White Hall on March 19 just prior to their spring break started a string of 16 victories in 18 games, which helped catapult the team to a 5A-South Conference championship.
The Yellowjackets did drop a couple of nonconference games to Class 6A contenders Bryant and Little Rock Catholic on Saturday and Monday, respectively, but those did little to dent the confidence Moore said his group has gained.
“I think the warmer weather helped because when we came back off that spring break, the grass was green,” a laughing Moore said. “It was more of a baseball feel, too, and guys started to get going at the plate a little better. But the other part of that was that our kids needed that spring break.
“Before then, it was a grind just to get to the start of the season. But I think that little vacation there revitalized them. We’d worked hard on all the little things, we knew what we were doing, so after that, it was time to go play.”
Sheridan has been accustomed to making deep playoff runs, but Moore isn’t sure many people believe the Yellowjackets have another one in them. The team lost a surplus of seniors from last season, including Tyler Cacciatori who is now on the roster at the University of Arkansas. This season, Sheridan has had a number of players deliver at different moments, many of whom are underclassmen.
That kind of balance has kept teams guessing a bit.
“I think people generally see us as being a little down this year. We don’t see that,” Moore said. “We went into the season talking about winning the state championship. Our expectations are high regardless of who we have, and our kids are highly motivated and excited. But we’ve got a really tough draw because Greenwood’s a good team.
“It’s tough to go in as the No. 1 seed out of your conference and face a Greenwood team with all the tradition they have, the great coaching, great players, great facilities. We expect it to be a really good game, and I anticipate our kids being up for the challenge.”