LEWISTON — Before Molly Murray even threw her first pitch Monday, the Edward Little hurler already had a lead to work with.

Pitching wasn’t an easy endeavor as the Red Eddies played their rivals from Lewiston. With a steady rain, wind gusts and chilly temperatures, it was a struggle at times.

“Having a good lead to begin with relieves a lot of stress,” Murray said. “It makes me feel like I just can pitch my game.”

The quick lead put EL in command early. Murray and the Red Eddies defense did its job to protect it in a 16-4 win over the Blue Devils. The game ended after six innings because of the 12-run rule.

“It’s hard,” Murray said. “To switch every ball gets me a little off focus,” said Murray, who would often have to wait for a dry ball to pitch. “So when I got the ball back, I had to refocus myself and take a deep breath and figure out the situation.”

EL (7-3) scored six runs in the first inning and had the lead up to 11-1 after two. That was all the Red Eddies needed to secure their fourth consecutive win.

“For the fourth game in a row, we established that  the game was going to be in our hands,” EL coach Elaine Derosby said. “We kept it. We held it. We held on and did enough to keep it going.”

EL pounded out 15 hits. Danny Rock had three hits and drove in three runs. Calli Murray had a pair of hits and drove in three runs. Jordan Reynolds had two extra base hits and scored four runs.

“We hit the ball hard,” Derosby said. “We got it done when we needed to get it done in the first couple of innings. Then we got a little anxious. They wanted to keep hitting the ball instead of going with our game plan of being patient and waiting for the perfect pitch to come.”

It was a challenge for Lewiston (1-9) to escape the early hole. The Blue Devils were plagued by errors. Lewiston had three in the first inning and nine overall.

“I think the mistakes definitely got us down a little bit,” Lewiston coach Erica Crowley said. “It’s hard to build on that after. They lose their confidence a little bit.”

Lewiston pitcher Makayla Girouard gave the Blue Devils a solid effort in the tough conditions. She pitched the full six innings and only walked one.

“Mikayla’s pitching really well,” Crowley said. “She throws strikes. She does her job well. I think she has one or two walks per game, at the most. She works really hard on the mound. We just have to make sure we work hard behind her.”

Though the field conditions were a challenge, Lewiston dropped too many catchable balls and had mistakes in the field that helped EL build the early lead.

Kory Norcross, the first batter of the game, reached on an error and later scored on another miscue. Rock made it 2-0 with a ground out that plated Kennedy Hubbard. Calli Murray singled in a run, and Karli Stubbs followed with a two-run single. She later scored on an error for the 6-0 lead.

“They hit the ball well,” Crowley said. “They ran the bases very well and took advantage of us not paying attention to that.”

Lewiston got one back in the bottom of the inning with a Maegan Mathon RBI single. Though Murray walked two batters and allowed a hit in the first, she settled down nicely and blanked the Blue Devils over the next two innings. She allowed just two other base runners through three innings of work.

“After I pitched a couple of high ones, I got back into the rhythm and drying off the ball really helped get a grip on the ball to throw strikes,” Murray said.

In the second, Rock singled in another run. Jordyn Reynolds doubled and scored on an error. Hannah Farrington singled in a run. Calli Murray scored on a wild pitch, and Brooke Reynolds had an infield hit that scored a run to make it 11-1.

In the third, Calli Murray’s sacrifice fly made it 12-1.

Lewiston produced some offense in the fourth off reliever Sarah Hammond. The Blue Devils trimmed the deficit to 12-4. Kaylyn Labonte scored on a wild pitch. Then Emily Turner had Lewiston’s second hit and scored on a fielder’s choice. Lauren Belleau later scored on another wild pitch. Lewiston’s only other hit came on a Belleau single in the sixth.

EL added to the lead in the fifth when Rock singled in a run. Emily Schario singled in a pair. Then in the sixth, Calli Murray had an RBI single.

EL finished with just two errors and were solid in the field behind Murray and Hammond. Calli Murray made some fine plays behind the plate, picking off a couple of runners and throwing out a runner trying to steal.

“There was one inning that was a little crazy, but in the fifth and sixth innings our fielder’s decided they were going to make the plays,” Derosby said. “We made some good throw-down plays and some good pick-off plays. They did what they needed to do to win. On a day like this, with it raining and miserable and cold and everyone around you cancelling, you do what you have to do to win.”

kmills@sunjournal.com