After making it to the semifinal of the District 4 little league all-star tournament, the Pineville-Bell 11-12 All-Stars fell to North Laurel 12-0 on Friday.

“I’m very proud of the season these guys had,” said Pineville-Bell coach Darrin Clark. “This is the farthest that Pineville-Bell has ever made it into this district tournament. We finished the season with a winning record and we had a ton of fun. We weren’t even expected to make it this far, but we knew we had it in us. We wish it could have ended differently, but that doesn’t take away from what we’ve done this year.”

The first inning started with Pineville-Bell unable to find any offense. North Laurel quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead before they were able to add three more runs when a North Laurel batter delivered a three-run triple with loaded bases to give the team a 6-0 lead.

North Laurel added another run before the end of the inning, allowing them to take a 7-0 lead into the second.

In the second inning, Pineville-Bell got their only hit of the game but were unable to capitalize with any runs. North Laurel added three more runs in the second, taking a commanding 10-0 lead into the third.

A great pitching performance by North Laurel made things tough on Pineville-Bell all afternoon. With Pineville-Bell unable to find any offense throughout the game, North Laurel was able to add two more runs, allowing them to secure a 12-run victory in the fourth inning.

“Hats off to North Laurel, their pitcher was probably the best that we’ve seen all year,” said Clark. “He was very consistent from the mound and did a good job of keeping us on our toes. We had a tough time on the sticks early in the game, and I think that caused us to be a little shell-shocked.

“I can’t stress enough how proud we are of these guys. We’ve never made it this far and it felt good to do it this year. The future looks bright for these guys. A lot of them play together throughout the year, not just baseball, but football and basketball too. This is a special group of young men, and they’ve got a lot to be proud of. Hopefully they all stick with it and continue to play together.”