CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — The East Surry/Mount Airy Junior Little League baseball team’s dream of playing for a national title was dashed Wednesday after a 6-4 loss to South Carolina in a regional championship game.

After falling behind 4-0 after two innings and 5-0 after four, ESMA came alive in the fifth. Nick Smith drove in two with a base knock. A Cameron Sheets sacrifice fly cut South Carolina’s lead to 5-3. But that was as close as ESMA would get.

“As a team, we didn’t hit it real well,” coach Randy Sheets said. “We only had five hits.”

Part of the problem was the lefty they had to face. Sheets said it was not a matter of him being left-handed; the kid was simply a good pitcher.

“We faced quite a few (lefties), more than you might think,” Sheets said. “He threw real well.”

The loss didn’t undermine the effort put in by Sheets’ team this season.

“I’m just extremely proud of them,” he said. “We worked hard to get to this point. I felt like we worked harder than anybody. We were hitting while other teams were swimming.”

Naturally, the team was upset after the loss. Sheets told his team members they had nothing to hang their head about, though.

“They were a little bit down, but we talked about how we were at a point no other team from Pilot Mountain has ever been,” he said. “I’m definitely proud of them. A lot of heart and a lot of class this team showed. They were told by many in Cartersville they were the classiest bunch.”