The young Prince Edward-Farmville Youth Association (PEFYA) Minors all-star team saw its summer come to an end after two games, but the boys went out with a competitive fight, falling only narrowly 8-6 against the Blackstone All-Stars on Sunday in the double-elimination 2019 Dixie Youth Baseball Minor League District 5 Tournament in Crewe.

In its opener Friday, the PEFYA Minors struggled, losing 15-4 to the Charlotte County All-Stars.

Following Sunday’s game, Prince Edward-Farmville Minors Manager Jacob McCann noted being pleased that his team was able to produce an improved performance.

“We played a whole lot better today,” he said Sunday. “This game could have went either way. A couple plays made here or there, a couple hits here or there, it’d have been a different outcome, but the team played really well today. I was proud of them. They stuck in there and just came up a little short.”

The PEFYA squad had the tying run on base at the end of the game.

Getting the start on the mound for the team was Hunter Fowlkes.

“He pitched great,” McCann said. “He pitched, I believe, four-and-a-half innings or so, so most of the game. And then Carter Boehmer, he pitched the last inning and a half or so.”

The team was coming off a bye Saturday.

After Friday’s loss, McCann cited that a few mistakes contributed to the lopsided nature of the game, but he also highlighted the positives of his squad.

“The team played pretty good,” he said. “We had a couple of innings that kind of hurt us, a couple of innings where we missed a few plays that we should have made, but the team, they worked hard, and they kept their heads up for the most part, so it was OK.”

This year, Prince Edward-Farmville is fielding an all-star team at the Minor League level that features a fair number of players at the young end of the 9- to 10-year-old age range.

“It is a younger team,” McCann said. “It’s probably about half-and-half, so it’s definitely not an older team. A lot of these teams have mostly 10-year-olds and even some older, 11-year-olds, depending on when their birthdays fall.”

Sunday evening after the Blackstone game, the manager shared how he will remember the 2019 PEFYA Minor League all-star team.

“I’ll remember the group as just a great group of boys,” he said. “They had a lot of good personalities, very respectful and just a good group of boys that were willing to work hard, and that’s what I’ll remember.”