Tanner Laberge led from the mound and from the plate as Bonny Eagle/Windham/Sacopee Valley – the Sebago Lakers, as they’re called – trounced Cape Elizabeth/Scarborough (a.k.a. Libby-Mitchell) in Scarborough on Saturday morning. Laberge struck out numerous opponents, rounded the bases twice and blasted a beautiful deep ball to right for an RBI standing triple in the 7-0 rout.
“It’s Tanner, definitely,” said Lakers head coach Max Salevskey of the team’s secret to the shutout victory. “He did it with a bat as well as on the mound. He kept them off-balance all day long.”
“He’s tough to beat,” said Libby-Mitchell head coach Ryan Jones of Laberge. “You take the best team in the state, and with him pitching, [the Lakers] are going to be all right.
“As frustrated as our guys were that they were striking out – they weren’t happy with the ump’s strike zone – I said, ‘Hey, guess what, that guy pitching? He’s pretty darn good. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap.”
The Lakers spread out their offense, earning runs in three separate innings – a good indicator of reliable bats – but nevertheless, the first two innings passed scorelessly.
In the top of the third, however, Noah Scribner knocked a single into right field to get on first. Scribner stole second during Anthony Haskell’s at-bat and reached third when Haskell sac grounded. Devin Butler brought Scribner home again with a shot to right for 1-0.
“The kids, as a unit, came through with the bats today,” said Salevsky of his lineup, who by and large managed to place their hits in all the right spots. “The old adage, a game of inches; sometimes it’ll come to get you, and sometimes it’ll do good for you.”
Jones was reasonably satisfied with his boys’ play opposite all the Lakers’ hits. But it seems like the inconsistent attendance by players common to many Legion games – the boys have a number of other summer responsibilities to attend to, after all – might actually give batters a bit of an edge.
“We’ve got some guys playing out of position,” Jones said. “It all depends on who shows up to the game, which is always a coin-flip. You’ve got 18 guys, 12 show up, some guys are forced to play out of position.”
The Lakers controlled the remainder of the game for a runaway W. They added three in the top of the fifth (Haskell, Max Salevsky, Jr., and Laberge all crossed home), two more in the top of the seventh (Spencer Hodge and Laberge again), and one for good measure in the top of the eighth (Scribner’s second).
Laberge’s fireball triple to right came with two outs in the seventh. The Lakers’ first two batters of the ups had quickly retired, but then Hodge reached base on an error at third. Laberge followed Hodge to the plate and promptly connected; the hit scooted Hodge all the way home and left Laberge just 90 feet away. Laberge scored on a Mat Bridges single to left.
That most of the Legion teams this season are comprised of players from multiple different school teams is intended to raise the level of play, and Salevskey happily confirms that it has.
“It’s supposed to be an all-star mentality…You’re bringing kids here that really want to play,” he said. “We had a 9:30 game this morning; I told them yesterday, ‘Be there at 8 o’clock. We came here and we were here by 10 after eight, hitting through the cage.
“It has that accountability factor with it now. Whereas before, you had kids who maybe just wanted to come out and do something during the summer.”
The Lakers move to 6-5, and Libby-Mitchell to 4-7.
“The top six teams make the Zone playoff,” said Salevskey, who’s seen noteworthy improvement from his boys since the start of the season. “So hopefully we’re going to bring it through the last part of the season here.
“We beat Moody’s 11-2, I think, and prior to that, we lost four one-run games. So we’ve been right there in every game.”
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Tanner Laberge pitched well for the Sebago Lakers against Libby-Mitchell on Saturday morning – and he swung a mean bat, too.
Mitch Wedge took to the mound for Libby-Mitchell versus the Lakers Saturday morning.
Bayley Welsh fouls one off for Libby-Mitchell in their Saturday morning loss to the visiting Lakers.
Sam Warren scoots off third, antsy to reach home again.
The Lakers’ Devin Butler drops into a slide in his team’s 7-0 win at Libby-Mitchell on Saturday morning.
Anthony Haskell dives back to first for the Lakers in Scarborough on Saturday.
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