Bucktail softball coach Mike Poorman celebrates during a game this season. PHOTO PROVIDED

The more Bucktail softball wins, the more common it feels. Expectations each spring in Farwell are, at minimum, a playoff berth. Truthfully, anything less than at least one playoff win seems like a missed opportunity.

It was not always like this. Far from it.

I still remember the days when it was hoped that a team or two would be down that season so the Bucks could try to get a few wins. Games against schools in similar situations were anticipated each year. Heck, every few years that Bucktail had a pitcher that could throw strikes consistently was considered a luxury.

As far as fans go- there were not any. There were parents and even they at times seemed thin.

I still remember one game in particular, a late March season opener in the mid-2000s. The temperature was in the high thirties with a strong, blustery spring wind. The opponents had a single parent on the bleachers. Bucktail faired a little better with three parents on the home stands, with a few more huddled in the concession stand trying to stay warm. I know less than a dozen people were there to watch the game.

This was Bucktail softball in the years before Mike Poorman.

I was certainly a doubting Thomas when I first started hearing about the coach’s group of young players. His oldest daughter, Myka, was pitching well in junior high and it would carry over into varsity. I had heard similar things before about other players, so I thought success would mean five wins, even seven if the other girls really could play.

Poorman’s longtime assistant Chuck Cross told me recently that Mike had to be talked into coaching varsity. It was not in the plans, but as the core of young players excelled in travel ball, all involved realized that they were onto something.

My first realization that things were about to change was watching Poorman call out pitches and locations. Yes, that is common for many softball teams, but for many seasons, the Bucks would take a strike, who cared where it was as long as it was in the zone.

Mike also has the perfect combination of wanting to win, while treating his players with the upmost respect. Those rare occasions where Poorman is yelling, he is coaching, realizing what his team is capable of.

This is where he has almost ruined many others for me. When I am at a game of any level now, I cannot help but to notice that the majority of the coaches’ loud moments are more of a complaint than instruction. So many times, a leaders’ words come off as a put-down of what just happened incorrectly, not a teaching moment that can fix it moving forward.

One of best compliments I can point to in Poorman’s nine years of coaching is this: I have never, not once, heard him call out instructions to a player only to see it upset, leaving her shaking her head or having hurt feelings minutes later at what he had just said. Coach Poorman’s players respect him to the point that they understand that listening to him will benefit everyone involved.

It is a fun, yet improvable sports argument to compare players and coaches of other eras and different sports. Who’s better, Terry Bradshaw or Aaron Rodgers? The answer of course depends on who you ask.

But for me, when you look at what softball has become in western Clinton County since Poorman arrived, his two district titles (the school has four total team district champs to its credit) and the way his players love him, I am confident in saying we are currently seeing the best Bucktail has ever had to offer.

No disrespect to any other coach. The small school has had several great and many good coaches that get the best out of a school that just this week graduated a mere twenty-four students. It is not just wins and losses, it is a culture that Mike Poorman has created.

Consider this: Mike arrived in 2014, two years before the group of girls that he led since little league and through travel ball came on scene in 2016. That first season of his influence led to a 10-8 record, the school’s first winning season and playoff appearance.

Since 2016 the Bucks have gone 86-34. (We will always be wondering ‘what might have been’ during the canceled 2020 season).

I was a little worried that after his daughters graduated whether or not he would stick around. Fortunately for us, he has.

In a sign of his seeing all things softball, just the other day Mike was telling he how good some second and third graders are doing, some selected to play all-stars.

Should he still be here when those girls become seniors in 2033, I have no doubt there will be even more district championship parades rolling through the streets of Renovo.

Kevin Rauch covers Bucktail sports for The Express.