Missed scoring opportunities cost Marlboro dearly in its 8-1 loss to Spackenkill in the Section 9 Class B baseball championship contest Sunday at Cantine Field.

No. 4 seeded Marlboro (13-6) loaded the bases in the third and fifth innings against No. 2 Spackenkill (21-2), but the Dukes could only manage a single run in the fifth.

Marlboro coach John Morrissey admitted the Dukes’ lack of clutch hitting played a major part in the season-ending loss.

“Spackenkill had great situational hitting,” Morrissey said. “We didn’t get that breakout hit. We talk about situational hitting and today we just didn’t get that job done.”

The Dukes looked ready to make a run at their first sectional title since 2019 when they beat Rondout Valley 6-3 in the quarterfinals and then upset top seed Burke Catholic 8-2 in the semifinal round.

“The dimensions at Burke helped us out,” Morrissey said. “It’s a small field. But we were hitting very well as a team. We only had four hits today and we just didn’t get those hits maybe we got in the previous two. It’s a game of averages and the averages caught up with us today.”

The Dukes loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third inning, but couldn’t score.

Mike Valente had a one-out single and Mitch Neer beat out a bunt. Collin Casey then walked to load the bases. All three were stranded, though, as Valente was forced at home on a Harrison Conn grounder to third and Tommy Benfer was retired on a fly ball to center.

That proved costly as the Spartans broke through to score three runs off Dukes’ starter Owen Schlagler to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

Steven Ciancio had an RBI double over Benfer’s head in right field, which put runners at second and third for Dan Collins, who lined an opposite-field single to drive in two runs for a 3-0 lead.

Spackenkill added two more runs off Conn, who took over in relief in the fourth. No. 9 hitter Anthony Hoyt’s two-run single upped Spackenkill’s advantage to 5-0 through four innings.

The Dukes finally scored off hard-throwing lefty Andrew Speranza with a run in the fifth on Conn’s sacrifice fly to left to cut the deficit to 5-1.

But Marlboro again wasted a chance to really do some damage when it left the bases loaded. Benfer made the second out on a diving catch by Collins in short center field and Jack Schlagler took a called third strike for the final out.

Spackenkill put it away with three more runs in the sixth to account for the 8-1 final score.

Although disappointed that his club couldn’t capture its first sectional title since going back-to-back in 2018 and 2019, Morrissey was proud of the Dukes’ strong finish.

Marlboro won seven of its last eight games heading into Sunday’s sectional title game. The only loss during that streak was to Wallkill in the Mid-Hudson Athletic League semifinals.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Morrissey said. “If you look at our team now, we’re 100 times better than we were at the beginning of the season. We just kept raising the ceiling. To get to the Section 9 championship game, it’s a great season. We kept building up a better program as the season went on and we just fell short today.”