NATCHEZ — Trinity head baseball coach Mitch Ashmore was visibly emotional leaving the field after his team ran into a buzz saw in the form of Centreville Academy in the playoffs.

The announcement had not been made, but Ashmore and his players had known for a while that Trinity’s final game would be Ashmore’s last as head coach.

As Ashmore reflected on a coaching career that spanned approximately 20 years, he could think back on countless wins, seven state championship appearances and two state titles. But he said it was the young men he managed that will stick in his memory long after the wins are gone.

“The greatest thing to me was getting to meet all these kids over all these years,” Ashmore said.

Ashmore made his retirement official at Trinity’s awards banquet earlier this month, Trinity Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Rod Givens said.

Ashmore had already retired after nearly 20 years at Huntington, when a call in 2010 from Trinity athletic director David King convinced him to come back for one more go-round.

Ashmore had wrapped up a very successful run as head coach of the Huntington School baseball team that saw his teams make it to six state championships and win one, and he was ready to leave the game behind. But King persuaded Ashmore to coach Trinity, and in just two years, he had brought the Saints a state championship.

“If (King) hadn’t called me on that one day and really made me think about what I wanted to do, I would have missed it,” Ashmore said. “David King was the reason I was at Trinity, and I will always be indebted to him for calling me, because I wouldn’t have gotten to meet these kids and be a part of everything they’ve accomplished.”

Ashmore said King told him that Trinity had the talent to win, but the players needed a coach that could lead them.

“David said, ‘We have the players we can win something with,’” Ashmore said.

Things were not as easy for Ashmore at Huntington when he took the head coaching job, but he said the school’s baseball community stepped up and made winning possible.

“We only had so many kids and were very limited on facilities and the things we could do,” Ashmore said. “We had so many people that were instrumental in making the baseball field work. So many people came out and worked on the field and made that thing happen.”

Ashmore said his biggest regret at Huntington was his inability to get over the hump in the state title game.

“We went to six (state championship games) at Huntington and only won one,” he said. “Sometimes we were short on bullets, or we didn’t have the pitching, but I always considered myself as not a big-game coach. That’s really something I regret.

“But we had a lot of good teams and a lot of good people.”

Ashmore said his first season at Trinity in 2010 was also tough.

“The first year I thought we had our best ball club,” he said. “It was just a thing where we were trying to figure out who was what. I wish we could have gotten together before that. That team should have gone futher than we did.”

But in year two everything came together for Trinity and the team won its first state baseball title.

Ashmore said his coaching philosophy differs from many high school baseball coaches. He tells his players to call him Mitch, instead of Coach Ashmore, and he sees himself more as a manager of young men than as a coach.

“I wanted to be close with them,” Ashmore said. “They have too many coaches in their lives.”

Ashmore said he always loved to see his players get individual recognition, and he was on hand for two of his former players, Todd Ainsworth from Huntington and Chase Patrick from Trinity, when they had their jerseys hung on the wall of fame at Sports Center.

Ashmore said he would always remember Ainsworth’s perfect game that he pitched in the state championship series.

Ashmore knew for a while that this season would be his last, he said.

“I think that if you look at it from a baseball perspective, I’m at the point where I’m not into rebuilding things, I’ve done that too many times,” he said. “It’s a new game and coaches are getting younger. It’s time for me to move on and do other things.”

Ashmore said he still loves putting on his uniform and coaching, but the other duties required for a high school baseball manager began to wear on him.

Ashmore’s youngest daughter Abbey graduated from Trinity this spring, and he said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family, playing golf and working. He said he also plans to continue to go to local high school sporting events as a fan.

Givens said Trinity is in the process of searching for a new coach to replace Ashmore.

Trinity has interviewed a few candidates and received resumes from several more, but Trinity will take its time in filling the position.

“Whoever it is will have huge shoes to fill, and we want to replace (Ashmore) with somebody just as qualified as he is.”