MANTEO — Beaufort County Post 15’s fantastic summer came to a close Thursday afternoon at the Area 1 postseason tournament. After losing their tournament opener to Cary Post 67, the Bulls ousted the Pirates, 11-0 in six innings. This time it was for good.

Beaufort County fell behind early and, after five frames, faced a 5-0 deficit. It wasn’t too intimidating as the Pirates mounted a comeback on Wednesday to keep their season alive.

They had kept the Bulls’ offense quiet after it exploded for four runs in the top of the third. Beaufort County knew it was running out of time, so the bottom of the fifth was a crucial point to start digging itself out of the five-run hole.

Matt Black drilled a one-out double to the fence in left field to give the Pirates their sixth baserunner of the game. They hoped that, with a runner in scoring position and two outs to work with, they’d be able to make their way onto the scoreboard. However, Cary’s defense quickly neutralized the threat by retiring Reg Bishop and Cody Godley, leaving Black stranded for the second time in the game.

Cary, already owning a 5-0 advantage, closed the door on Post 15 in the top of the sixth. Drew Ferguson pitched to start the frame, but was switched out for Zach Woolard after conceding consecutive leadoff singles and a two-RBI shot through the left side.

Woolard entered the game with another runner already in scoring position. He gave up four more runs on three hits before Parker Boyd came in to close the stanza out. Boyd quickly induced a groundout, but the damage was already done.

“(Cary) was seeing the ball well,” coach Glenn Marsh said. “They were relaxed, had a nice lead, and got a couple of nice swings on it. It was their day and not ours.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Boyd drew a one-out, four-pitch walk and Ferguson reached on an error. Neither would come across, though, and Cary won 11-0 via the 10-run mercy rule.

The Bulls set the tone of the game right away by taking the first pitch and doubling to centerfield. They used a sacrifice fly to draw first blood. The Pirates almost got that run back in the bottom of the first. Black, the leadoff batter, drew a walk, stole second and reached third on Godley’s groundout, but was left on.

“It would have been nice to get that run back and tie it up,” Marsh said. “We hit some balls today, but they were line shots right at them. (Cary’s) line shots found gaps. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Beaufort County had another shot at bouncing back in the bottom of the second. Tanner Alligood, who started on the mound, drew a one-out walk and Matthew Marslender followed up with a single through the left side. Cary’s defense buckled down again. It retired back-to-back batters to keep the Pirates off the board.

In the third, two Cary batters drew walks sandwiched between a double to the gap in left-center to load the bases with no outs. A base-clearing triple and an odd hit-and-run on a bunt allowed the Bulls to add four more runs.

It appeared the Pirates simply ran out of gas. It was their third consecutive midday game and most — if not all — of the players had been playing for upwards of eight months.

Regardless of the finish, Beaufort County has a lot to be proud of. The Pirates followed up last year’s success with another great regular season and, this time, a strong showing in the tournament.

“We just ran out of gas. Three days a row in the middle of the day. Some days it’s just not your day. It wasn’t our day today,” Marsh said. “When you think of the whole season, these kids have had an unbelievable season. Then, when you look at the core group that’s been her for two years, they’re 28-9 over two years. … I’m really proud of them and what we’ve done over a two-year period.”