Considered a state tournament contender, Bessey Motors’ stay lasted all of two games after Sebago eliminated the Oxford Hills American Legion team, 4-1, at the Wainwright Recreation Complex.

The Zone 2 champion’s bats fell victim to a quality pitcher for the second time in as many games. Bessey Motors managed just five hits against Bangor’s Trevor DeLaite on Wednesday and could only match that offensive production Thursday against Sebago’s Tanner Laberge. 

“We didn’t get a good draw,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “We faced DeLaite and then we get Laberge. Two great pitchers. We put some pressure on; it just didn’t drop in. We didn’t have any bloop hits. Everything we hit went at somebody and sometimes we didn’t hit the ball well enough.” 

Laberge nearly single-handedly eliminated Bessey Motors. He allowed one run over nine innings, striking out five and walking seven, throwing 149 pitches in the process. Laberge did it with his bat as well. Nursing a 2-1 lead in the ninth, Laberge lined a two-run home run over the wall in left for a little extra cushion. 

“That helped a lot because my arm was hanging,” Laberge said. “I was a little worried about that ninth inning because I couldn’t find the strike zone too good in the eighth. I just wanted a couple runs and that worked out good.” 

Bessey Motors (19-5) never led, falling behind 1-0 in the third inning. Spenser Hodge plated Devin Butler for the game’s first run on an RBI single to center.

The lead was short-lived as Bessey Motors responded in the bottom half of the inning. Brady Lafrance recorded Bessey Motors’ first hit of the game on a bunt down the first-base line and would eventually come around to score on a two-out RBI single to center by Riley Chickering. 

That was all the timely hitting Bessey Motors had in its bats. It stranded 10 runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in both the seventh and eighth. Bessey Motors put runners on first and second with one out in the sixth, but Matt Smith grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Bessey Motors was on the wrong side of three double plays. 

“Very good defense,” Salevsky said. “That was sound and solid today. I told him before the game that little things are going to make or break this game.” 

In the seventh, Bessey Motors put runners on second and third with one out, but again couldn’t find the timely hit. Jake Spinhirn popped out in foul territory to first and following a walk to Lafrance to load the bases, Nick Attaliades-Ryan lined one back to Laberge. 

“We had the bases loaded, we had guys on second and third, but we just stranded too many,” Slicer said. “I take my hat off to the pitching staff on the other team.” 

The Lakers broke the tie in the eighth playing small ball. Max Salevsky Jr. laid down a sacrifice bunt to move runners to second and third and Hodge tagged and scored on a Drake Laughlin sacrifice fly to right. 

Bessey Motors would again load the bases with two outs in the eighth as Laberge began losing his command. He walked Chickering, Ty Martin and Aiden Heikkinen, but got Tyler Curtis to fly out to right to end the threat. 

“An absolutely beautiful performance today,” Sebago coach Max Salevsky said of Laberge. “We got on his back and we rode him today, both on the mound and at-bat. He went deep in the counts. They had runners on base and we stood behind Tanner. We have a lot of faith in him.” 

Laberge threw 50 pitches between the seventh and eighth innings and had hit 141 before going back on the hill in the ninth. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to keep the Lakers’ season going. 

“We played those guys before, so obviously they have a lot of good hitters,” Laberge said. “I was just mixing in fastball, curveball a lot all day. It worked out good.” 

Blake Slicer suffered the loss for Bessey Motors, allowing four runs on 12 hits over 8 2/3 innings. He struck out two. 

For Bessey Motors, two losses to end the season wasn’t what it anticipated, but Slicer said it doesn’t take away from what his team accomplished this year. 

“It was a good season,” Slicer said. “I’m proud of the way we showed up day in and day out. Won the zone in the regular season, won the tournament. It says a lot about how good our kids are.” 

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