Chris Frye said the youths did well in the state tournament but had set their sights on the state title in Augusta: "I think they're a little disappointed they didn't win it all, but they played very good baseball."
He said the season is not over for the all-star team since it plays for the state title as Little League District 1 champs this weekend.
"We'll be playing Saturday at Belvedere Park in DeKalb County," Frye said. "There's still a little more left in the tank, we hope."
The GRPA was played over the weekend in Augusta. Cartersville, which went 2-2 in the tourney, opened with a 3-0 loss to East Point Thursday, then bounced back to defeat Savannah 15-3 on Friday.
On Friday night, it got a measure of revenge against East Point with a 13-1 victory. Cartersville played Columbia Saturday, falling 5-0 in the championship game.
East Point 3, Cartersville 0
Cartersville had its chances in its tournament opener against East Point but failed to make good on its scoring opportunities.
The Cartersville all-stars stranded 13 baserunners as they failed to push them across home plate in the Thursday game.
"We just never could get the hit that we needed to break the game open," Frye said.
He said the team got a good pitching outing from three pitchers. "Jake Cooper, Grant Harris and Zachary Woods combined for 14 strikeouts for us," he said. "A couple of things just didn't go our way."
Cartersville 15, Savannah 3
On Friday, the hitting attack clicked for Cartersville, as the all-stars bounced back against the Savannah Bulldogs.
Cartersville got an early challenge, as Savannah plated two runs in the first inning.
The visitors responded with four big runs in the bottom of the first, giving Cartersville a 4-2 lead.
Key to the early run barrage were Harris and Cooper, who both hit their first home runs of the postseason. Cartersville continued pouring it on throughout the contest, eventually racking up 15 runs while limiting their foes to 3.
Cartersville 13, East Point 1
Cartersville used the Friday night contest against East Point to even an old score.
"We got a little retribution in our second game against East Point," the coach said. "We sent 15 batters to the plate as part of a 12-run first inning."
He said pitchers Jacob Frye, Levi Ayers and Trevor Lawrence combined to allow one run, winning the game 13-1.
Those pitchers allowed one hit in the evening in a contest shortened by the mercy rule.
Columbia 5, Cartersville 0
He said Columbia County played great defense in the Saturday game.
"We had runners on base in all but one inning but we couldn't get them across the plate," he said. "The credit goes to Columbia.
"Our boys played a good game Saturday, but Columbia played a great game."
He said the bright spot in the game came in the performance of Woods, who gave up two runs in relief during 4 2/3 innings of work.
Coach Frye said a key performer throughout the four games was Josh Mayo.
"Josh hit 7-of-10 for the tournament. Hitting .700 was an outstanding offensive performance," Frye said. The coach said Mayo's hitting helped lift the play of the team.
"Josh is one of those kids that when he gets locked in, you can count on him getting a lot of hits," he said. "We hope we can bottle that and pass the drink around."
Frye said Columbia earned the victory, though.
The coach also thanked the Cartersville community for its support.
"We sold 300 dozen donuts in less than three hours to raise money for our trip," he said. "We are appreciative and humbled by their support."