POULSBO — The English proverb that, “All good things must come to an end,” best sums up the conclusion the season for the 2005 North Kitsap Vikings baseball team.

Though the Vikings failed to get past the first round of the state playoffs — losing 9-8 to Kentlake May 28 — the team, and more specifically, its senior core, made quite the mark during their time on the diamond.

Thirteen seniors graced the field this year, with North Kitsap taking a Narrows’ Bridge Division title and attaining second place in the Narrows League overall. No matter how disappointing it was to lose early on in state, any team in Washington that qualifies to the top 16 tournament has tremendous talent and chemistry.

Beyond winning and losing, however, the hardest thing to cope with now is that it’s over, players agreed.

The team’s 13 seniors have been hitting, fielding, catching and pitching in North Kitsap since they were practically in diapers. Some will go on to play college ball, such as Jared Prince, the stellar starter who’s inked a Washington State University scholarship, or lead-off hitter Travis Tobin, who has an option to walk on to play at Central Washington, Oregon State or the University of Portland. For others, this was the final time they’ll suit up for the diamond.

It has been quite the journey.

Many of the seniors and juniors were among the 14-year-old Babe Ruth All Star team that qualified for the World Series and finished third in the nation in 2001. At NKHS, they’ve won back-to-back Narrows Bridge titles and took three wins in two years from South Kitsap, a team they hadn’t beaten previous to that for 28 years.

The players aren’t the only ones seeing their run come to an end, though.

Head coach Steve Frease, who guided the team for a dozen years, is stepping down to take the helm of the Vikings football program in the fall. The move is bittersweet for Frease, who, on more than one occasion, got teary eyed describing the end of the road for this talented class.

He loved their work ethic and their never-say-die attitude.

“With two strikes, just keep fighting,” he said early in the season. “That’s been the characteristic of this group all the way through.”

There is much of that to look back on, namely, a 1-0 win May 23 versus the Olympia Bears, a team that had beat them a week previous for the Narrows’ title. It was the squad’s final win before its loss to Kentlake.

When Frease reflects on this team, it won’t be as much about the victories and defeats, however.

“It’s not so much the wins and losses but the relationships,” he said following their final outing. “They’re good baseball players but beyond that, they’re better people.”