AUBURN — Pitcher Sarah Hammond and the Edward Little Red Eddies were cruising through six innings in their opening softball game against the Brewer Witches on Wednesday afternoon at Auburn Suburban Little League.

In the seventh inning, the Witches wouldn’t go down without a fight even though they were down 6-0. They sent eight batters up to the plate starting with a triple by Emily Lord. After Hammond got Sydney Hewes to strike out, Libby Hewes and Jordan Goodrich had back-to-back singles, with Libby Hewes driving in Lord.

Mikayla Henderson grounded out, but moved the runners into scoring position. Lead-off hitter Anna Chute hit a double to drive them in to cut EL’s lead in half. Meg Davis’s single brought in Chute. With the tying run at the plate in, MJ Sellars, who broke up Hammond’s perfect game attempt in the fourth with a infield single, gave it a good cut, but flew out to end the game.

The Red Eddies held onto a 6-4 win.

“If we got some hits earlier, it would have been a different game,” Brewer coach Harry Estes said. “If MJ (Sellars) hits that a little more square, it’s a home run and now we have a tie game. It’s a new game. I thought our kids did a good job to rally back. They never quit.”

EL coach Elaine Derosby knew the seventh inning would be a good teaching moment for her team.

“Coach (Gene) Keene talked about there’s no score clock in baseball and softball,” Derosby said. “You always have time to do well and finish a game or the other team has a chance to come back.

“We have to play through seven innings. We got a little unfocused, but didn’t stop playing hard. That’s what I liked. They still played hard; they still communicated. We have to be on top and finish strong and close the door when we are up by that much and not be satisfied. I think they were a little satisfied today. So, we want to be playing our best in June, if this is the first lesson in our journey, then it’s the first lesson in our journey.”

Prior to the seventh inning, Hammond only allowed three singles in her first complete game effort of her career. She also finished the game with nine strikeouts.

“I think Brewer started to time me up and that’s what good teams do,” Hammond said of the seventh inning. “Brewer is a good team, and when they time you up, they start to hit you. You got to make those play and we didn’t, but we pulled through.”

She also said she felt a little tired going into the seventh and Derosby said she was also working on some new pitches.

Hammond did a good job in the middle innings when Brewer got a runner on to stop any rally the Witches were trying to mount by buckling down.

“We hadn’t seen that speed, it took awhile for our girls to build the confidence up to start to get on her,” Estes said of Hammond. “We didn’t see anyone with that speed all preseason.”

The Red Eddies’ (1-0) offense had a strong start to the season when leadoff hitter Emmy Lashua went deep to centerfield in the bottom of the first. In the second, Jordyn Reynolds made it 2-0 after she got on base with a single and came around on a Maddie Thistlewaite single. Thistlewaite reach third on the play on a two base error, but was left stranded.

Lashua got on base with a lead-off walk in the bottom third followed by Hammond and Grace Beaudet singles. All three would come home to stretch EL lead to 5-0. Grace Russell scored in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“Emmy Lashua started it off, some teams, she might be the cleanup (hitter),” Derosby said. “Her on-base percentage is so high, why wouldn’t you start someone like that in your lead-off position? She started off with a bang and her teammates followed through the first four innings.”

Brewer (0-1) starter Ally Chapman only went three innings, allowing five runs on six hits. Davis came in relief allowing one run on two hits and adding five strikeouts.

nfournier@sunjournal.com.