The Grand Forks Blues baseball team closed out its XBL season with a hard-fought 15-13 loss and 6-1 loss to Nelson on June 23.
The league is made up of men aged 16 years and up, with the Blues competing with the likes of teams from Trail, Castlegar and Nelson.
The Blues went 6-14 but Tom Starchuk, second baseman, said they were competitive.
“I think this was a very good year for us, mostly because our number of registered players increased from last season. Also, the players we did have showed more commitment to the team by making most practices and games,” said Starchuk.
Starchuk said that the average attendance to practice was between four and six players last year, which had him scrambling to get enough players for games but that wasn’t the case this year.
“The most important factor in our growth as a team was having larger numbers at practice, giving us more opportunity to teach and practice game situational skills and knowledge, thus helping us grow as a team,” Starchuk said. “We competed in more games this year. Even though we had a losing record, almost all of our losses were within a few runs. All in all, we had a fun year, and I am excited to see what next year bring.”