SANFORD – Neither the Windham nor Sanford baseball teams will be heading to the playoffs this year, so Tuesday’s 12-2 Eagle victory proved to be a bittersweet end to their respective journeys. Windham missed the final slot in the 2011 postseason by a mere six Heal Points, while Sanford – which began the season by losing 11 straight before recovering a pulse in the final handful of games – had its fate sealed much earlier.

It’s difficult to measure one team against one another in terms of hardship. Sanford began the year and almost immediately lost senior captain Robbie Dudzisz to an off-the-field injury, creating an emotional and physical void in the lineup that the team never really recovered from. But with such a young roster, it was difficult to see Sanford (2-13) as being a legitimate postseason threat this spring so the outcome – while difficult – wasn’t overly startling.

“The one thing I will say is that our younger kids got the playing experience,” said Sanford Head Coach Mark Boissonneault. “I mean, if you realistically look at it, we had three sophomores and six juniors that all got large amounts of playing time. The experience is invaluable, and so the great thing about next year is that the mistakes we made this year shouldn’t happen.”

On the flip side of the coin, Windham (8-8) had seven seniors on the roster and entered the season with very high expectations. But the Eagles struggled in a couple of winnable games, and a few isolated mistakes wound up costing the team a postseason berth. With so many new faces expected for next year, the Eagles will need to work hard to come this close again in 2012.

“I thought it was a great season,” said Windham Head Coach Mike Fullerton. “I probably had more fun with this group of kids than any other group that I’ve coached in any other sport. They are kids that know how to fun, compete, and they have a great balance of staying laid back, but also at the same time staying ready to play. We had some unfortunate things happen to us where we lost a couple of games where we probably could have won, and that put us in that position. So while this was a great win for us to end the season on, everyone wants to compete more.”

In the season finale, the Eagles went to work early and, aside from a slight hiccup, never let up. Cody Dube led off the game with a double, but the Redskins were able to pick up two quick outs. One of these was an outstanding play by senior centerfielder Daniel Reed, who came over to back up right fielder Justin Owen, and was able to catch the ball when Owen lost it in the sun and it tipped off his glove. The third out proved elusive, however, as Cody Laberge hammered a triple to the wall in right center, then came home himself when Dylan Taylor lined a single to center to make it 2-0.

“That was my first triple of the year, so I was pretty happy,” Laberge said. “It was the first pitch, and I kind of jumped on it. I didn’t think it was a triple, but it went in the gap, and I just turned it on.”

Windham starter Micah Sawyer struggled with control issues in the bottom half of the inning, but was able to work out of a jam. The Eagles were unable to score in the second, although the top half was once again highlighted by another great play by Reed, this time as he leapt and caught a ball across his body to rob Dube of extra bases.

“It’s pretty simple, if you see a fly ball, you hustle to it,” Reed said. “(With the ball off Owen) I just went over to back him up, and it just came off his glove, and I just ended up being there in the right spot.”

Windham reliever Nick Burton gave up two runs in the bottom of the first, as Sean Smith singled to lead off, stole second, and took third and home on passed balls. Burton then loaded the bases and hit Ethan Gouin to tie the game at 2-2. Burton worked out of the inning without further damage.

“We had a couple of guys who wanted to throw who were seniors, and hadn’t had an opportunity to in their high school careers,” Fullerton said. “So I felt like we kind of owed it to them, and I thought they competed pretty well.”

Things got out of hand for the Redskins quickly in the third, as the Eagles batted around, piling up six runs on four hits, including a trio of doubles for Laberge, Taylor and Sawyer. Dube entered the game in relief for Windham in the bottom half of the inning and gave up no runs, and the Eagles tacked on two more runs in both the fourth and the fifth. Although Laberge allowed a pair of baserunners when he entered the game to close it out at 12-2, he was able to preserve the 10-run-rule advantage.

“I feel pretty happy in the end,” Laberge said. “It was a tough season overall for us – some calls didn’t go our way – but other than that I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. I love the group of guys that I’m around, so it was a good year.”

Windham second baseman Micah Sawyer lays down the tag against Sanford sophomore pitcher Ryan Camire in the second inning on Tuesday. The Redskins had stolen successfully against catcher Cody Laberge earlier in the inning, but this time Laberge had the last laugh. (Staff photo by Emory Rounds)