Edward Little shortstop Taylor Depot makes a diving catch on a sharply hit ball for an out during Thursday’s game against Lewiston.

LEWISTON — Neither Edward Little nor Lewiston could do much offensively the first time through the batting order of their rivalry softball game Thursday.

The second time through, the Red Eddies’ bats woke up. The Blue Devils did the same the third time through, but by then it was too late.

Edward Little plated six runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth before holding off Lewiston’s late charge for a 9-3 victory in a Class A North contest.

“It’s just always a good game with Lewiston,” EL senior Kylie Bureau said. “You always want to bring your best, and we as a team really did that today.”

Bureau was a force in all three phases for the still-undefeated Red Eddies (5-0), beginning with her work in the circle as EL’s starting pitcher. After walking the second Lewiston (4-2) batter of the game, Bureau didn’t allow another baserunner until the fourth, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Bureau said. “Honestly I just was going inning by inning, hoping that we wouldn’t let them have any runs.”

The EL defense made sure no runners reached early, let alone any runners crossing home. The Red Eddies made a plethora of fine defensive plays during Bureau’s no-hit start, including both diving and leaping catches of liners by shortstop Taylor Depot.

“That’s natural,” EL coach Elaine Derosby said. “We work on those dive plays a couple times a week, and (Taylor) challenges me to do that. Those are expectations, not surprises.”

Bureau played solid defense of her own, snagging a liner of her own to end the second.

“My team makes some really good plays, and seeing that makes it a lot easier, and knowing that you have solid defense behind you,” Bureau said.

EL’s pitcher also had the biggest hit of the game, lining a two-out home run to left-center to score three runs in the fourth, and stretch the Red Eddies’ lead from 3-0 to 6-0.

“That big hit out there, that three-run homer, was kind of a killer,” Lewiston coach Mike Child said.

“There’s no fence, so it rolls for a while,” Bureau said. “But I was trying to get around.”

The Red Eddies were going on nine straight outs at the plate entering the fourth before Olivia Jensen led off with a walk. Two batters later Depot singled, and Jensen scored on a combination of Grace Beaudet’s ensuing base hit and an error. Depot scored on a passed ball and Beaudet followed her home two batters later on Maddie Thistlewaite’s RBI single. Caroline Hammond walked before Bureau cleaned the bases with her homer.

“When we needed to put runs on the board, it took the whole lineup to be able to do that,” Derosby said. “We put six runs in on that inning, and we went through the whole lineup.”

Jensen reached base again leading off the fifth, thanks to an infield single. Anna LeBlanc walked and Depot reached on a bunt for a hit. Then Beaudet hit a bases-clearing triple to make it 9-0 Red Eddies.

That knocked Lewiston starter Meg Theriault out of the game, but not the Blue Devils.

Just about any contact would have drove Beaudet home for a 10th EL run, and three defensive outs in the bottom half of the inning would have ended the game via the mercy rule. But Danielle Cyr came on to relieve Theriault and struck out three straight batters.

“Dani came in and did a (heck) of a job,” Child said.

The Blue Devils went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but finally found some offense an inning later.

Kali Voss came off the bench and in her first at-bat of the game doubled just out of the reach of Thistlewaite in right field to lead off the sixth. A groundout moved her to third, then Jordyn Rubin singled her in. Theriault followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position, then consecutive singles by Jordan Mynahan and Lexi Poulin both drove in runs.

“In the past, the girls have always thought they get down, they’ve got no chance. We’re trying to instill that you can come back,” Child said.

Emily Mousseau walked two batters later to load the bases, but Bureau induced a groundout to keep it 9-3.

Cyr didn’t allow a hit in three innings of work, and worked around a hit-by-pitch in the sixth and an error and walk in the seventh.

The Blue Devils put two on with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but a pop-up to Bureau ended the game.

“They’ve had two games where they’ve come back and won in their last innings, so we were mentally prepared for that,” Derosby said. “We talked about them making a little bit of a run … and we just had to weather that storm. And so we came back in the seventh inning and defensively we just buckled down and we made sure that we won that inning or we tied the inning so that we could win the game.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Lewiston shortstop Lexi Poulin manages to snag a line drive to record an out during Thursday’s softball game against EL.

Lewiston pitcher Megan Theriault winds up for a pitch during Thursday’s game against Edward LittleEdward Little pitcher Kylie Bureau winds up for a pitch during Thursday’s game against Lewiston.

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