LEWISTON — The pressure was cranked up. Two runners on base in a two-run game in the final inning.
But Lewiston pitcher Brooklyn Mynahan was clutch, and the Blue Devils closed out the regular season with a 4-2 softball win over rival Edward Little on Tuesday.
Lewiston (6-10) coach Ryan Cormier talked with Mynahan recently about handling big moments.
“Brooklyn was zoned in today, and we had a great conversation the other day about when you’re in the moment and you start to feel ourselves get off track, to take a deep breath and settle in,” Cormier said. “Take that moment to refocus ourselves and continue on. No matter what happens, she has the entire team behind her.”
Mynahan, a senior, said that she was stressed but confident.
“(The win) is pretty awesome,” Mynahan said. “Whenever we play EL, we always wonder what’s going to happen. It feels awesome pitching the whole game, and only giving up two runs feels really good. I was getting a little stressed out there, but I kept my composure and I was good. I also knew my defense was going to be there.
“Especially on my senior night, it felt good.”
A big sixth inning by their offense provided the Blue Devils’ with a cushion.
Lewiston headed into the bottom of the sixth with a 2-1 lead — a lead it took in the second inning — and with one out Makenzie Anderson hit a double down the left-field line to score Sage Cormier.
Two batters later, Charlotte Cloutier singled home Anderson to give the Blue Devils a 4-1 advantage. Lewiston then the bases loaded as Edward Little pitcher Maddy Scott got the final out by getting Mynahan to pop out.
The Red Eddies (7-9) opened the scoring in the first inning. Alexis Kelsea led off with a single and then stole second base. Three batters later, Izzy Jalbert hit a hard grounder up the middle and into the outfield to score Kelsea and give Edward Little a 1-0 lead.
Anderson singled into left field for Lewiston in the bottom of the first, and the throw to the infield went into the Red Eddies’ dugout, giving Anderson two more bases. Next up was Ahna Dostie, who hit a bloop single into right field to score Anderson and tie the game at 1-1. Lewiston then stranded two batters in scoring position as Edward Little escaped the inning.
The Blue Devils added another run in the second when Anderson hit a hard ball to the shortstop that bounced off a glove and into left field, scoring Katie Laslie. Lewiston stranded two more batters but took a 2-1 lead into the third inning.
Edward Little mounted a two-out rally in the top of the seventh. Kelsea tripled and scored on a single by Tiana Avila, cutting Lewiston’s lead to 4-2. Leah Thibodeault then singled to give Edward Little two runners on, but Mynahan shut down the comeback bid by inducing a ground out to second base.
Mynahan gave up nine hits, but held the Eddies to two runs by battling out of a few jams. She also struck out four batters.
Scott went toe to toe with Mynahan and the Blue Devils, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and also surviving a lead off triple by Morgan Brown in the third.
“She takes us on a ride, and when she has to dig in, she digs in,” Edward Little coach Elaine Derosby said of Scott. “She’s a competitor. There have been times where she’s overwhelmed and has not given us that, but today she pitched well, and she has pitched well against Lewiston so I went with it. I felt she could give us the effort from the circle.”
Anderson had three hits for Lewiston, driving in two runs and scoring twice. Kelsea also had three hits.
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