The early hole the Kent Little League Senior All-Star team dug for itself proved to be too much on Sunday afternoon at Bothell High.

Trying to claw its way out of the loser’s bracket, Kent fell behind Evergreen 8-0 in the third inning and simply didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to come all the way back. Despite a big come back, Kent fell just short en route to being eliminated by Evergreen, 9-7.

“It was tough,” lamented Kent coach Kevin Vallala. “The kids never gave up. They kept on fighting and encouraging their teammates.”

Kent won four of its six games in the tournament and brought home a solid third-place finish.

The loss, however, stung.

“It’s too bad,” Vallala said. “That’s the hardest part. This was a great group of kids. Winning district and taking third at state … they have a lot to be proud of.”

After getting behind 8-0 early, Kent scrapped its way back into the game, getting a pair of two-run doubles, one by DJ Vallala and another by Kevin Clutter.

In the seventh inning, Kent put its first two runners aboard and managed to plate one, but was unable to come all the way back.

Falling into the loser’s bracket early last week with a 3-1 first-round loss to Nisqually Basin, however, proved to be the most difficult part of the tournament for Kent to overcome. The loss forced Kent into loser-out games, where it had to win to advance. The Kent stars nearly came all the way back as well, pulling out victories on Monday (10-3 over Snoqualmie Valley North), Wednesday (8-3 over Hazel Dell), Friday (11-1 over Northeast Seattle) and Saturday (5-1 over East Jefferson).

That momentum ended on Sunday against Evergreen.

“The kids competed big time,” Vallala said. “Going through the loser’s bracket is awfully tough. We would have been in good shape had we been able to do it.”