The county all-star team, filled with players from Elkin, Surry Central and East Surry high schools, advanced to the title game before falling to the Greensboro Spirits 4-0 on Sunday afternoon at Greensboro's Stoner White Stadium.
While Surry's season comes to a close, the Spirits earned Western North Carolina's berth into the Southeast Region tournament, which starts this weekend in South Hill, Va.
The Greensboro team was the only one to beat Surry this summer, also knocking them off 8-3 in the second round of WNCBR tournament Saturday.
"I was proud of our kids -- they battled the entire weekend," Surry coach Gregg Carter said. "We played great defense and our pitchers really battled. Our hitting just wasn't on for some reason, and that's the one thing that I thought we could do with anyone."
Surry came into the tournament as a No. 1 seed and the first set of brackets released the week before had the team getting a bye from Friday's opening round action. A handful of players were in Georgia for the week, with plans to get back Friday night, in time to make Saturday's first game.
But then the brackets were changed twice Thursday, with the final revision putting Surry's first game on Friday at 6 p.m. That forced Carter to scramble to get his team together.
"I took off on a 12-hour drive early Friday morning to go pick up three starters and arrived back in Elkin Friday afternoon, just in time to suit up and head to Greensboro," he said.
Despite the confusion, Surry managed to win its Friday game, beating the Greensboro Renos 8-3. Greensboro scored one run in the top of the first but Surry responded with a seven-run effort in the bottom of the frame.
Brian Carter (Elkin High graduate) got the win from the mound, pitching three strong innings before coming out with arm soreness. Austin McLamb (Surry Central) held the Renos in check until the seventh, then Dillon Wilcox (East Surry) closed things out.
Justin McLamb (Surry Central) helped the Surry offense with a triple and three RBIs. Matt Carter (Elkin) had two hits and three more RBIs, while Brian Carter and Cory White (Surry Central) also had two hits.
Surry moved on to face the Spirits in Saturday's round round, with the Greensboro team needing a comeback to beat Queen City 9-7 in their opener.
Austin McLamb took the hill again for Surry, but Greensboro scored four runs in the second and third innings to take an early lead. Travis Myers relieved McLamb and allowed one more run over 1.1 innings.
Surry's bats warmed up, with Brian Carter, Justin McLamb, Austin McLamb and Tanner Hudson stringing together hits in the fifth frame to score two runs. But Surry couldn't come all the way back, falling into the loser's bracket with the defeat.
Brian Carter had three hits in the game, while Justin McLamb had two.
Surry kept its run alive with a 3-2 comeback win over the Renos in a Saturday afternoon elimination game. Wilcox gutted out four innings despite forearm pain, holding the Renos to just one hit in a 0-0 ballgame.
"He just mixed up the speed of his pitches and kept them off balance, and we played great defense behind him," coach Carter said. "His performance really got the team going and they wanted to win for him."
Brian Carter, also still sore, relieved Wilcox and pitched a scoreless fifth inning despite having little other than his knuckleball working.
Surry loaded the bases in the sixth when Ty Hudson walked, Brian Carter walked and Matt Carter got aboard when his sac bunt was mishandled. Justin McLamb then hit a sharp grounder that was mishandled, and Austin McLamb hit an RBI grounder to second to put Surry up 2-0.
The Renos tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, but Surry quickly got the lead back to start the seventh. Tanner Hudson walked, Cory White doubled into the gap and Ty Hudson walked to load the bases. Brian Carter made it 3-2 with a sacrifice fly to deep left center.
Austin McLamb then sat the Renos down in order to end the game. Shortstop Cory White made a "SportsCenter highlight play" to preserve the victory, coach Carter said.
With Brian Carter and Wilcox out of gas from a pitching standpoint, Surry started Austin McLamb in the state championship game against the Spirits.
"He threw the best game he threw all weekend, keeping the big-hitting Spirits off balance all day," coach Carter said. "We made a couple of mistakes behind him but he kept us in the game right to the end."
McLamb went the distance, allowing only two earned runs. Surry struck out 13 times against college-bound Greensboro pitcher Ramon Torreze.
Surry's biggest threats came in the fifth and sixth innings, but Torreze worked out of both jams.
Coach Carter admits that while he was proud of his players' performances during the weekend , he was "disgusted" with other aspects of the tournament. The last-minute schedule changes put undue adversity on his team, and he questioned whether the Spirits should have been allowed to play in the tournament at all.
"We have all Surry County players and it seemed really unfair to me that we had to play a team that got to pull all star players from five different counties -- some of which have Babe Ruth leagues of their own," he said. "We played at their ball park without Babe Ruth umpires.
"I asked one ump to clarify a rule for me and his answer was, 'I don't really know. We don't play Babe Ruth here, we play Palomino (another league).' I asked, 'Well, if this isn't a Babe Ruth team then why are they in the state tournament?'"
Carter said he had lengthy conversations with the Babe Ruth state commissioner on Monday about several issues.
"Our players were cussed by the umps in the championship game and had rulings that were stated right in the Babe Ruth rule book turned against us," Carter said.
Many from the Surry group will play fall-ball together in Charlotte, Carter said. Most will be eligible to join the Surry team again next summer should they choose to do so.
"A first and second place in the state the last two years isn't bad for a county team from Surry," Carter said. ""I still think we're the best Babe Ruth team in the state and we proved it."
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