LEWISTON – Alice Read likes to dive. She’ll gladly lay herself out there for any hit within her reach.

When Lewiston’s Lyndsay Smith drilled what looked like could be a game-winning gapper Wednesday afternoon, the speedy Edward Little senior chased it down and gave it a diving try.

Initially, it looked as though Read made the sensational catch, but when she hit the ground, the impact forced the ball loose.

“I had to run a really long way to get there,” said Read. “Then when I got there, I caught it. I had it, but then I hit the ground so hard, because I was running so fast, and it fell out.”

A catch would have ended the bottom of the sixth inning and nixed a Lewiston threat. Instead, Smith’s hit went for a game-winning single as Alex White scored from third in a 5-4 victory.

“I didn’t see her drop it, and I didn’t see the runner either,” said Smith, a junior first baseman. “I heard one coach tell me to stay on first base. Then the first base coach was telling me ‘Nice try.’ So I thought for sure it was caught.”

Though EL erased a 4-0 deficit with a Megan Hussar grand slam in the sixth inning, Lewiston regrouped and produced the game-winner in the bottom of the frame. Danielle Willey led off with a single. White ran for her and moved along on outs by Courtney Vallee and Michelle Caron.

“To manufacture that run with the middle of our order was key,” said Lewiston coach Fred Royer. “We had a nice sacrifice bunt to get her over. That girl made a heck of an attempt on the ball. It was nice to see Smith make good contact in that situation.”

EL had opportunity to tie the game in the seventh. Kayla Cummings reached on an error and was sacrificed over by Jena Dubois. After Miranda Martin grounded out, Levesque, who had two hits, grounded the ball back to Willey on the mound for the final out.

“We’re going to build off that,” said EL coach Elaine Keene. “We’ve played six games to this point. We’ve played pretty good defense, and we haven’t given up many runs.”

Willey got the win scattering seven hits. Kim Lawrence started for EL and allowed four runs on three hits. Levesque came in the fifth and gave up just two hits.

Maria Labbe helped Lewiston build the early lead. She singled in Erica Morin in the first and then tripled in Carley Denis and Sam Morency in the third. Labbe also scored in the third on a Willey infield hit.

EL (0-2) had just three hits through the first five innings. The Red Eddies bats came to life in the sixth and tied it on Hussar’s home run. With one out, Levesque singled, Emily Grund doubled, and Read reached on a fielder’s choice. Hussar followed with a drive to right that sailed over the outfielder’s head.

“Last year, if we’d gone down like that, we would never have come back,” said Read. “That we rallied, it’s a good thing. I like that we had the attitude to kind of come back and not put our heads down. It’s definite an improvement.”

The win improved Lewiston to 2-0 with another home game against Cony Friday. The Rams, who lost in the Eastern A final last year is expected to be one of the better clubs in the KVAC South. Lewiston won just seven games last year and fell shy of the postseason

“It’s really great to be able to win our first two games,” said Smith. “It should really put us ahead for the rest of the season and give us a little boost.”