Sanford 3

Windham 1

Sanford’s baseball team scored three runs with two outs in the fifth inning Tuesday to defeat Windham, 3-1. Aaron Gauthier delivered the big blow for the Redskins with a two-run double. Sanford pitcher Alex MacKay struck out 10 batters while allowing just three hits. Windham’s Arthur Winship allowed seven hits and struck out eight.

“We lost focus for one out and they scored three runs,” said Windham coach Mike Fullerton. “That’s kind of been the theme of the season this year; one bad inning or one bad out. The kids play hard, they give a lot of effort, but we’re just not getting it done.”

The Redskins trailed 1-0 entering the fifth inning. Winship was hitting his spots and keeping the Sanford hitters off balance. In the fifth, Justin Young and Ryan Legere both popped up to start the inning. With two away, Matt Matoin singled. He moved to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Brett Wallingford ended up walking on a 3-2 pitch. Ryan Fortier then singled to score Matoin and the game was tied. Gauthier then ripped a bullet to deep center that scored Wallingford and Fortier for a 3-1 Sanford lead.

“Artie pitched a great game today,” said Winship’s battery mate Nate Johnson. “He was hitting his spots. It was just bad luck in that one inning. That’s just the way it is. It happens. You couldn’t ask for more; he threw the perfect game.”

Windham scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the second. Leadoff batter Sam LeBlanc was hit by a pitch. He moved to second when a pickoff throw was off target. Winship then singled to drive him home.

Both pitchers put on a strong pitching display. MacKay worked his way around a single in the first with two easy ground balls. After the Eagles scored in the second, MacKay got a strikeout, a ground out and caught a runner stealing to end the inning. MacKay worked his way out of trouble in the third when Windham put their leadoff man on and had a runner at third with only one out. He sat down the side in order in the fourth picking up two strikeouts. He struck out the side in the fifth. MacKay pitched around a walk in the sixth and a hit in the seventh to earn the win.

On the other side, Winship was on his game as well. He pitched around a single in the first inning and recorded two of his eight strikeouts. In the second, he retired the Redskins in order with a pair of fly balls and a ground out. Winship recorded another pair of strikeouts in the third and the fourth innings. In the sixth he struck out his seventh and eighth batters.

“Artie did pitch a really good game today,” Fullerton said. “Some of the guys hit pretty well, but we just couldn’t get it done.”

All the Eagles needed was one hit in the right situation. The managed to get a few, but couldn’t string them together.

“We need to really think about getting that one big hit or that run,” said Fullerton. “It always seems that we’re one away. It’s been a common theme. We play to the level of our opponent no matter how good or bad they are we play just to the level of our opponent. Good teams don’t do that. But we’re getting through it.”

The Redskins improved to 5-7 with the win while the Eagles dropped to 3-9.

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