The Suffolk Youth Athletic Association Nationals 14U all-star baseball team saw its 2015 run come to an end on July 17 in the final of the PONY Northeast Section tournament in Chesapeake.

But the squad showed its quality during the all-star season through its growth and through winning the PONY Northeast District 1 tournament in Ivor, which ran July 7-9.

“I think they learned a lot,” said the team’s head coach, Mike Barnes. He noted his players will walk away from this season with a strong foundation in the game and a lot of great memories that will carry them on to their next journey, which will be high school.

“We played extremely solid baseball in that last tournament,” Barnes said of sectionals.

“Although the outcome wasn’t what we wanted it to be, we still walked off the field as winners,” he said.

The SYAA team arrived in the final for a rematch against the team from Western Branch that sent it to the loser’s bracket earlier in the tournament via an 8-2 loss.

The local boys would have had to defeat the Western Branch team twice in the final to win the tourney, but only one game ended up occurring. It was a close, defensive contest, but Western Branch prevailed 3-0.

Barnes was proud of his team’s performance, however, and the next day, he cited several players who helped lead the way, including Adam Briggs.

“He pitched an amazing game last night, keeping them down to three runs,” the coach said after noting Briggs got better as the game progressed.

He pitched six innings before Hunter Hayden took the mound and did a good job of holding Western Branch in the final inning, Barnes said.

To reach the final on July 17, the SYAA squad defeated a Delmarva team 16-6 earlier in the day. Prior to the initial loss to Western Branch, which came on July 16, the local boys defeated a team from Kempsville 19-4 on July 14.

Corbin Reynolds hit a three-run homer against Kempsville, his first home run of the all-star season. In the same game, Chris Allen hit a home run with the bases loaded.

The SYAA Nationals 14U all-star team went 4-0 during the district tournament in Ivor.

“They played extremely well,” Barnes said, and assistant coach Jeff Beale noted, “Out of the four games, we only had eight runs scored against us.”

The tourney featured three teams, and each night, one team had a doubleheader. On July 7, Southampton-Sussex defeated Western Tidewater 7-4 then fell 8-1 to SYAA.

On July 8, Western Tidewater fell again to Southampton-Sussex, this time 8-0, and SYAA topped Western Tidewater 14-6.

On July 9, SYAA had its doubleheader, routing Western Tidewater 11-1 and then beating Southampton-Sussex 4-0.

Many local players drew praise for SYAA’s run in the tournament.

“Cody Anderson, Noah Cross and Christopher Allen really solidified our outfield with some spectacular catches,” Beale said.

In terms of SYAA’s overall defensive effectiveness, “Gage Fesette played an extremely vital role in that success, as well,” Barnes said. “He’s our catcher.”

Barnes also highlighted Tyler Spencer, who also spent time behind the plate.

“The catcher, from a defensive standpoint, is really the one that orchestrates the entire defensive team because he’s looking at them all the time,” Barnes said.

“We had some really good pitching in this tournament,” Beale said, citing the coach’s son, Michael Barnes, Jay Norris, Noah Floyd and Cody Anderson. “Those four guys pitched spectacular.”

The SYAA Nationals 14U squad finished the all-star season with a 12-5 record.