The East Lycoming area fans have shown their support this entire summer for their team, and the players gave them one last thank you curtain call on Saturday afternoon.

East Lycoming may have come up short against Loyalsock in the District 12 championship game, 6-5, but the fans and parents of the East Lycoming team are more than proud of the run they went on. It was evident by the large crowd they brought to Volunteer Stadium for not only the major baseball final, but the minor baseball championship game beforehand against Keystone at noon.

“That’s what Hughesville does. Any time you see Hughesville in playoffs, whether it’s high school or elementary or in the middle, we just have a great small-town community. Everybody really rallies around each other and that’s just what it’s all about, especially at this level,” East Lycoming manager Kyle Daugherty said. “We just have so much support from them. That’s why we told our kids to go over and give them a round of applause because they’ve been fighting with us the whole time. It’s just great.”

This summer has been a successful one for East Lycoming Little League overall. The minor baseball all-star team finished runners-up after falling 12-0 to Keystone at Volunteer Stadium on Saturday in the final and the major baseball all-star team came up just a run shy to a talented Loyalsock team, 6-5, in the District 12 final at Volunteer Stadium on Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent East Lycoming Little League players collect dirt from the field after a District 12 Majors Championship game against Loyalsock on Saturday at Volunteer Stadium in South Williamsport. Loyalsock won 6-5.

East Lycoming had a minor baseball team finish second in the Hepburn Lycoming tournament this summer and the East Lycoming junior baseball team qualified for states after winning both the District 12 and Section 3 championships.

For fans wearing green and white, it’s been a fun summer. And that goes for Daugherty too, who’s also the East Lycoming Little League president.

“As president of our league, I couldn’t be more proud of how our teams have performed this tournament so far,” Daugherty noted. “So we have something cooking here. We just have to keep rolling. The foundation’s set all the way through for us to keep providing something for Hughesville baseball.”

Saturday also made it twice as nice having both the minor and major all-star teams playing in back-to-back games at Volunteer Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

“I mean that’s a great thing for both teams to be able to make it to the district final. Our goal was to get here. Obviously we wanted to win, but our goal was to get here and we did it as one team” East Lycoming minor baseball all-star manager Randy Wurst said. “So it’s all East Lycoming, there’s no merger, so that says something. We’re really invested in our kids in our program. Both teams made it to the final, we’re doing the right thing in our organization I believe. It’s really nice.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent East Lycoming's Blake Swartz attempts the tag at home on Keystone's Mason Wright during a District 12 Minors Championship game on Saturday at Volunteer Stadium in South Williamsport. Keystone won 12-0 in four innings.

And the players were happy and had pride to see their younger and older teammates, respectively, play Saturday.

“For sure. A lot of pride for everybody and we gave a lot of opportunities for all these kids to play some extra baseball,” Wurst said. “It’s really nice for them to get here and experience it together, you know? All these kids have played on different teams throughout the season, so its really nice they can all potentially finish their last game on this field.”

And the Hughesville community is more than proud of what East Lycoming Little League has accomplished this summer, regardless of the end result on the field.

Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached by email at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @JonGerardi.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent East Lycoming's Weston Group throws during a District 12 Minors Championship game against Keystone on Saturday at Volunteer Stadium in South Williamsport. Keystone won 12-0 in four innings.