Among the most popular sayings in sport is that no one remembers who finishes second.

It's also among the most overused and incorrect of competitive adages, a convenient phrase that's typically trotted out by an individual or team that has either won a championship or is convinced that he/she/it will soon do so.

Nor are last season's New England Patriots the only runners-up worth remembering. The shock factor isn't the only one that's valid here.

We offer as evidence the East Valley Red Devils.

They didn't win the Class 2A state baseball championship this season, losing 8-1 to Sehome in Saturday night's title game at Yakima County Stadium.

But if the Mariners got what they deserved in terms of a big gold ball symbolic of the coveted state crown, so did the Devils. As they gathered in front of their dugout after the final out, their crowd gave them a standing ovation.

"For the staff, for the younger kids in the program and hopefully for the people watching, these kids taught some valuable lessons," said coach Jesse Benedetti. "They taught us all how to play the game with courage and compassion, and they've shown how far courage and compassion can take you. That's why they'll be remembered."

Regarding the big picture, yes.

Kevin Komstadius, for example, mentioned last week that the squad had reached a collective maturation point not while logging one of its 20 victories, but during a 9-8 loss to Selah for the CWAC district championship.

"We might not have won that game," he said, "but I think we all learned what it takes to get the best out of yourselves, and that's to just dogfight all the way to the end no matter how the game ends up."

A week later EV reversed that outcome, outlasting the Vikings 14-10 in a state quarterfinal for the program's second final four berth in three years.

And Friday the Red Devils took that accomplishment a giant step further, beating Cedarcrest 3-1 to reach the school's first state baseball title game.

The happiest EV ending would of course had the Devils standing triumphantly at the end Saturday night, with players hugging, high-fiving and dancing deliriously in celebration of a championship.

The problem was, Sehome was really good.

Again.

Forget that the Mariners graduated seven starters from their 2007 title team. Against East Valley they produced the same clockwork efficiency with which they denied Selah the title last spring.

Still, East Valley produced evidence of both its precision and pluck. There was senior center-fielder Bobby Pottenger, for example, charging a first-inning single and then throwing out a runner trying to score from second. Trent Sikes, a junior in left, did the same thing an inning later.

The Red Devils also turned two double plays. And still Sehome scored eight runs -- or 13 fewer than in Friday night's rout of Pullman, and its lowest total in four state wins.

"We ran into a wall," Komstadius said. "They're a great team. I'd love to play them again, even though I know we can't. But that's all right, too."

Benedetti, disappointed though hardly distraught, said, "We got a bigger part of the community to come out and watch baseball when we made the final four two years ago, and we got a bigger part to come out to watch us this year. Hopefully we'll continue that."

And the old saying about forgetting who finishes second will hopefully take another hit.