The Suffolk Youth Athletic Association 14U state team exhibited tenacity and talent during the 2015 PONY Virginia State 14U tournament, enabling the squad to bring home the state title.

Through seven games in the event, the SYAA team went 6-1. After losing to a team from Chesterfield, the local squad worked its way through the loser’s bracket. Then, it avenged its loss to the Chesterfield team by beating it twice in the championship to win SYAA’s first Virginia state tournament.

“I will never forget the resilience of these 14 boys as long as I live, and I doubt they will ever forget it either,” SYAA 14U state team coach Robert Carpenter stated in an email. “Us coaches were never so proud of a group of young men as we were this week.”

Inclement weather stretched the tournament, but the SYAA squad began play on July 9 against a Smithfield squad and won 14-2 in five innings.

Play for the Suffolk team resumed on July 12, a day in which the group played a total of 21 innings with only a 10-minute break between games. The local boys began playing at 4 p.m. and finished around 12:30 a.m.

The first game of the day came against the Chesterfield squad, and SYAA lost 5-1 in seven innings, placing it in the loser’s bracket.

Next, the Suffolk squad had a rematch with Smithfield and won 13-3 in seven innings. To conclude the day, SYAA faced a team from Great Neck, to which it was losing in the seventh inning when the local boys put together a 10-run offensive explosion to win 14-7.

Following a couple of rain delays, the SYAA 14U state team re-took the field on July 15 and took on a team from Windsor, winning 22-2 in the fourth inning after the Windsor squad called the game by forfeit.

This victory put Suffolk in the championship against the Chesterfield squad. Because SYAA was coming from the loser’s bracket, it had to beat Chesterfield twice to emerge as state champions on July 16.

The first contest went into extra innings, but the local boys prevailed 12-11. In the game that followed, SYAA was victorious, 7-4.

“They played their hearts out all week,” Carpenter stated of his players. “Even Sunday when we had to play 21 innings straight, they still had enough energy at 12:30 a.m. to come out on top and advance. When they were down they never gave up and continued to strive to beat whatever team they were playing.”