When it hit him Saturday afternoon, he knew what he had to do.

Shake it off.

The heaviness would come and go during the game, but when Ashdown had secured its first softball state championship, Coach Wiley Cunningham’s immediate reaction was involuntary.

“I couldn’t help it. My eyes and heart went straight to heaven,” the 26-year coaching veteran said.

That was to acknowledge his mother, who died Thursday, the day before the Lady Panthers left for Fayetteville and the championship game.

ADVERTISEMENT

The only person making the trip who knew was his wife, and he swore her to secrecy. He did not want the Lady Panthers to know.

“The game was not about me, it was about the girls and what they had accomplished,” he said. “I didn’t want any outside influence on them.

“ I wanted them to have ownership of the game. It was their weekend.” So Wiley, who has been coaching softball for 11 years, kept the deep ache to himself, except for the private moments with his wife when he also used the time to talk to his family.

Norma Cunningham — “Everyone in Mena knew her as Honey” — was 89 and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, but she lived at home with a daughter until she fell and broke a knee last Tuesday.

She was taken from Mena, her lifetime home, to Hot Springs for surgery and seemed to be doing fine, but things turned.

“I guess it was her age that caught up to her,” Cunningham said Tuesday. “I called regularly, like my siblings, but now I wish it had been more.” He also made the hour-anda-half drive each way regularly, except during softball season.

During a phone conversation Tuesday, Cunningham fought the hurt that wanted to choke him up, and almost every other sentence was about the girls and what they accomplished this season.

“Coaches always ask their players to be focused, so me staying focused on them and the game was the right thing to do,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of other coaches would have done the same thing.” Cunningham did not tell his players about his personal loss after the 7-0 victory in the state championship game over Highland either because “they deserved to celebrate and enjoy the ride home.” Ashdown had an interesting season. It finished 24-11, which he admitted didn’t sound like the record of a state champion, but it was all part of the plan.

“We got to the finals in 2004 and lost to Booneville,” he said. “That changed my thinking when it came to scheduling.” Cunningham started having Class 4 A Ashdown play against bigger schools from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

“Our schedule dictated we could have as many as 10 or 11 losses because of the teams we played, but it was to prepare them for last Saturday,” he said. “They were not intimidated.” Lady Panthers assistant coach Lynze Greathouse played on that team that lost to Booneville. Before the game she told the team she couldn’t tell them what it felt like to win a state championship but she sure could tell them what it felt like to lose one.

Ashdown scored two runs in the top of the fourth, three in the fifth and two more in the final inning.

Jamie Fleming, a senior right-hander, struck out 10 for the Lady Panthers and walked only two and was named MVP of the state championship game.

“If we are struggling, she reaches down inside to pull out something and get us out of trouble,” Cunningham said after the game.

Sounds exactly like what he did Saturday.

In front of strangers and friends, players and opponents, Wiley Cunningham kept his hurt and disappointment in check until the final out, and then his full attention turned to heaven and his mom.