LEWISTON – When the Brunswick softball team arrived in Lewiston with just one blemish on its record, the Lewiston Blue Devils were fully aware of the source of that lone defeat.

The Blue Devils had topped the Dragons, 5-2, in the season opener and saw no reason why they couldn’t do it again Wednesday.

“That was us,” said Lewiston third baseman Kim Bechard of Brunswick’s loss. “That gave us a boost.”

With that in mind, Lewiston scored five runs against the top-seeded Dragons in the first inning and went on to topple Brunswick again, 9-3.

“We came alive today,” said Bechard. “Everyone played phenomenal. We did an amazing job. I think coming in everyone had the attitude that we have to win this.”

Lewiston (10-5) was coming off a disheartening loss to Skowhegan last week and were ranked seventh in the latest Eastern A Heal Points. A second win over the Dragons (13-2) should certainly help Lewiston’s standing.

“Home field is the number one priority,” said Lewiston coach Fred Royer. “I don’t know how much this bounces us up. Obviously, it will bounce us. I don’t see us being any worse than fifth.”

Bechard led Lewiston’s 11-hit attack with three hits and an RBI. Meagan Marcoux had two hits and drove in a run. Ali Coleman and Jess Nadeau also drove in runs for the Blue Devils.

The staples in Brunswick’s success has been its fielding and hitting, but the Dragons struggled in both areas. Brunswick made six errors. Though the Dragons produced eight hits off Amanda Michaud, they left nine runners on base. Emily Pollock led Brunswick with three hits and two RBI.

“We didn’t get off the bus,” said Brunswick coach Trent Hutchinson. “We were flat. We got up here late. We didn’t get our hitting in. We weren’t ready to play. I could see it when we stepped on the field.”

That showed in the first inning. Brunswick had four errors while Lewiston tagged pitcher Chelsea Blais with four hits, three for extra bases. After Katie Morin scored on a Michaud single and error, a Bechard triple, a Marcoux double and a Coleman triple followed. Then Coleman scored on an error on a Nadeau grounder.

“The Lewiston girls hit well in the first inning,” said Hutchinson. “We gave it up that first inning. Making mistakes defensively, we did plenty of those.”

Brunswick got within 5-2 in the fourth when Pollock singled in a pair. Lewiston got a Katie Morin RBI double in the bottom of the inning.

Lewiston then added three more in the fifth. Bechard tripled and scored on an error. Marcoux also scored on a miscue, and Nadeau had an RBI single for a 9-2.

“We came off a big loss to Skowhegan,” said Bechard. “That was a downer, and we bounce back pretty well.”

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