Fort Dale was bumped from the playoffs Friday after being swept by Monroe Academy.

The Eagles, who defeated Monroe in their two previous match-ups, fell 12-8 and 3-2 against the rival Volunteers.

Coach Josh Beverly summed up the games in two words: “We competed.”

Game one started with the Eagles scoring two in the first inning and the Volunteers answering with five runs of their own in the bottom of the first.

“We were hitting it real good, but we just weren’t playing good defense,” Beverly said.

The game proceeded much like this, with the Eagles nabbing a few runs only to have Monroe earn a few more. The Eagles eventually battled within one point of Monroe to bring the score 9-8, but failed to keep them from scoring three more runs to secure their victory.

Todd Burkett pitched and was credited with the loss. Jonathon Scott and Burkett batted 2-for-4, and Dustin Till went 1-for-4.

“The first game, everyone played poor defense but hit pretty well,” Beverly said.

The second game was the complete opposite of the first, Beverly said. Both teams struggled at the plate.

“We were up 1-0 until the sixth,” Beverly said.

A few careless errors and some bad luck, however, and they were tied up 1-1, Beverly said.

The game pushed on into extra innings. Then, in the top of eighth, Fort Dale gave up two runs to bring the score to 3-2, where it would stay until the end.

Hunter Armstrong pitched the entire game, giving up three runs, walking two and striking out one. Todd Burkett batted 2-for-3, and Brandon Matthews and Dustin Till both went 1-for-3.

Beverly was happy with his team’s performance for the year, even though he feels that his team could still be in the playoffs.

“I think we accomplished a lot this year, even though we didn’t finish like we wanted,” Beverly said. “Hopefully these guys got a taste of the playoffs and will fight to get back there next year.”