Windham’s miraculous postseason came to an end against Bangor Saturday afternoon, and not the end the Eagles had hoped for.

Despite having caught fire in recent weeks, they couldn’t find their groove against the Rams; Bangor’s hitters had Windham starter Spencer Hodge’s number from his very first pitch, and just kept finding the gaps. The Rams went on to win, 8-0.

Windham, underdogs throughout the tournament, closed their season at 11-10. “The pitching that we’ve had in the past two weeks,” said Eagles head coach Brody Artes, “we didn’t [give up] any hits, hardly, and our defense [today] was sub-par, compared to what it has been. They beat us in all facets of the game; I think they’re the better team overall, and the better team than we were today, for sure.”

Bangor came out swinging, wringing a double drive to deep center with their first batter, and though the Eagles turned a nice 4-6-3 double play to initially look promising on defense, by their first ups, they were already down 2-0.

Offensively, they struggled as well. They went one, two, three in the bottom of the first, and only got a man – Ethan Petty, normally a reliable, powerful hitter – on in the second because he walked there.

Then, in the top of the third, Bangor broke things open. Their first man grounded out, their second man drove a hard shot directly into Eagle Alex Loftis’s glove, but their third, fourth and fifth men all ripped line drives into narrow, impossible-to-cover slivers of the outfield.

The Eagles found themselves already down 5-0, and couldn’t do much about it. Bangor pitcher Justin Courtney simply proved too much. He K-ed three straight in the third, and two more in the fourth.

“He threw hard,” Artes said of Courtney, “which we didn’t see a lot of in the West this year. Good breaking pitch that he threw for a strike, which kept our hitters on their heels. [We] just couldn’t really get anything going. He definitely had a lot of momentum each time he came up to the mound. It was tough for us to break that.”

Windham threatened in the fifth, when Hodge walked to first, reached second on an error by the baseman there, and third during Tyler Johnson’s at-bat. But a couple of pretty fielder’s choices by Bangor caught Hodge at home and then Ethan Petty – who’d followed his teammate around the bases – at home as well, keeping the Eagles at zero. Meanwhile, the Rams tallied three more in the sixth, leading to the 8-0 final.

“It was just one of those games,” Artes said of Hodge’s uncharacteristic showing on the mound. Hodge put up solid numbers throughout the regular season, with an ERA of 2.95 and 38 Ks in 40.1 innings pitched. “It just happens. I still think Spencer was the right call to start the game; he had the most rest and we’d do it again if we had to. [Bangor] is a very good-hitting team.”

As has been noted and noted again, the No. 11 Eagles assembled a brilliant postseason – upsetting No. 6 Portland, No. 3 Biddeford, No. 2 Falmouth and No. 4 Marshwood to reach the state final – and have everything in the world to be proud of. Artes knows that.

“I’m wicked proud of the kids,” he said. “What we’ve been through in the past couple weeks shows a lot of character on their part. We had a great run where we played really great baseball, and today we didn’t play great baseball.”

Windham’s Alex Loftis preps for an incoming ball while a Bangor runner dives headlong for the bag.Spencer Hodge started on the mound for Windham. It wasn’t Hodge’s day, however, and he stepped out in the middle innings.Windham third baseman Zach Conley awaits the play.Timmy Greenlaw mans first for the Eagles.Andrew Whiting can’t quite beat the throw to first.Ethan Petty returns to first.Windham senior Spencer Hodge and head coach Brody Artes trade hugs after the Eagles’ 8-0 loss to Bangor in the state final.