For Sean McAlpine, the key moment of Saturday’s game came in the first inning. The Westbrook sophomore had loaded the bases in his first varsity start and Sanford’s Garrett Goodhue stepped into the box.

A base bit would have sent home two, rattling the young hurler’s confidence. Even a walk, after two of the baserunners had reached in that manner already, would have been bad news for the Blazes.

But McAlpine induced an infield pop-up from the Redskins’ number-six hitter, escaping the jam without giving up a run, and then he set them down in order in the second.

Meanwhile, Westbrook’s bats were alive from the start, pushing the hosts to an early lead and eventually a 9-5 win to start the season with a pair of victories.

“At the high school level, confidence is a very big factor,” said Blazes coach John Eisenhart. “And to be able to go out and beat a very good team – a top four or five team in this league – that should give us confidence.”

Sanford’s coach, Mark Boissonneault, refused to use fatigue as an excuse, despite his squad playing 18 innings to beat Deering two days earlier.

“They had time to rest,” he said. “We just didn’t field the ball. You’ve got to make the plays.”

The Redskins, according to Boissonneault, started the pitcher, Jon Smith, they intended to start all along, and the guy they brought in for relief, Andrew Rothstein, let up just one run.

It was chiefly Sanford’s sloppiness in the field that gave McAlpine an eight-run cushion early, but Westbrook’s hitting was a factor as well.

Adam Hamilton immediately jumpstarted the Blazes offense with a leadoff single in the bottom of the first.

“He really led the way for us,” Eisenhart said of the only returning starter from a team that went to last season’s state championship game. Hamilton reached base in each of his four plate appearances, including a pair of doubles.

Shane Kelly singled and then Joel Chadbourne doubled to score Hamilton. A Levi Levesque sacrifice fly brought home the second run, but a series of miscues that began with a two-out error and continued into the next inning really decided the game.

A dropped third strike, errors by the Redskins at second base, shortstop and in right field in the second inning brought the score to 8-0.

Boissonneault went to Rothstein and the visitors’ defense settled down, with just one error the rest of the way.

McAlpine allowed three hits in the third, which led to three runs, but before that he had retired four in a row and after that he put down nine of 10 batters.

“I settled down a little,” he said. “Once I got the curveball working I did better.”

McAlpine, who struck out four, did admit that his “arm was dragging” by the sixth inning, and after he gave up a pair of singles, Eisenhart brought in freshman Christian Hamilton, who closed out the game.

“The kids battled,” the Westbrook coach said. “There were a couple situations where they might have folded, which you might expect from a young team, but these guys have a lot of character.”

With young arms like McAlpine and Hamilton, the Blazes look like they’ll again be one of the teams to contend with in the SMAA. The contest at Portland scheduled for Tuesday could be a big test.

“It’s still a one-game-at-a-time thing,” said Eisenhart.