MANTEO — There are defining moments in every baseball game. Momentum can swing with just one or two key plays, as Beaufort County Post 15 learned in its first-round game in the Area 1 tournament.

The Pirates dropped their first postseason game, 4-1, to the Cary Post 67 Bulls. There were two notable plays that helped Cary ultimately win the game. However, as the Pirate coaching staff reiterated to the team afterwards, each team has 21 outs to work with. Even as that momentum shifts, there’s almost always a chance to bounce back.

Post 15 wasn’t able to do that.

Beaufort County was able to answer quickly after Cary broke the ice with a run in the top of the second. Cary started a submarine pitcher that kept the Pirate batters off balance in the first. However, he struggled with control in the bottom of the second.

Leadoff batter Hunter Sparks was hit with a pitch to give the Pirates their first baserunner of the game. Cary quickly erased Grant Talbot, who was running for Sparks, by catching him stealing second. Brock Marsh reached on a four-pitch walk and tied the game on Tyler Harrell’s RBI single in the right-center gap.

Between a fly out and a runner getting gunned down at home plate, the Pirates missed their first chance to grab ahold of the game. After loading the bases with one out, Cary minimized damage by only allowing one Marsh across.

The second and most decisive shift in the game came in the top of the fourth. After a leadoff groundout, the Bulls used three straight base knocks to score what stood up as the game winning run. Cary added a pair of insurance runs on an error in the infield to take a 4-1 lead.

“It did deflate us,” Marsh said. “Defensively and pitching, we were very strong, other than that one error — and that one error didn’t cost us the ballgame. There are many plays that happen in ballgames.

“These kids have played a lot of baseball. They’re tough. We try to get them to focus on the positives.”

The Pirates were unable to mount a comeback. While the pitching and defense kept the game within reach, they stranded what turned out to be their last baserunner in the bottom of the fourth. They were retired in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames.

Even though Beaufort County struggled at the plate, the offense was the only part of the Pirates’ game that didn’t go according to plan. They played nearly perfect defense with the exception of the aforementioned error.

On the mound, Marsh went into the game with a plan for the pitching. He wanted to get three stanzas out of starter Austin Roscoe and then a pair each from Harrell and Cody Godley.

“I thought Austin, Tyler and Cody pitched really well,” Marsh said. “The plan was to use them like we did and it was to a tee. Their pitch counts were low, we kept them fresh and the defense pretty much made all the plays. They got a couple hits here and there, had some kids on base early, but we didn’t get the hits we needed.

“We’ll bounce back.”

Marsh added that he’s confident in his team’s ability to channel its frustration into something constructive. The Pirates face elimination in the loser’s bracket against Windsor on Wednesday at 10 a.m.