It didn’t take long for Dallas County High School coach Willie Moore to find himself back into coaching.

Moore has taken over as Dallas County’s softball coach for the remainder of the season and will coach the team in the South Central Regional on Thursday in Troy. Moore is coaching in relief of head coach Josh Howard, who Moore said is dealing with some family issues, and won’t be with the team the rest of the year.

“He’s dealing with some family issues that are more important than softball,” Moore said.

Dallas County enters Thursday’s regional as an underdog in every sense of the word.

The Hornets have won five games this year and will play Moody in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Moody comes in ranked No. 8 in the Alabama Sports Writers Association softball rankings.

“The beauty about it is at this point records don’t matter. You’re in the regional,” Moore said.

Moore said after 24 years of coaching, he thought he’d seen it all. Instead, he finds himself in a new position.

“I’ve never been in this situation as a coach ever,” Moore said. “In 24 years of this, I’ve never ever been in this situation. The only thing beneficial to me is the fact that most of the girls that are on the team played for me the year before.”

Moore announced he was giving up coaching during basketball season and coached what he thought was his last game during baseball season. Instead, he’s back in the dugout for at least two more games.

The Hornets will play the first of two games Thursday at 3 p.m.

“It’s the little things at this point. At time point, every team you play is going to be solid,” Moore said. “They have good pitching, good hitting and outstanding coaching.”