AUBURN — What began as a duel between pitchers and defenses Friday turned into a slugfest by game’s end.

And Edward Little’s bats outslugged Mt. Ararat’s in a 10-7 come-from-behind victory.

“We can bring the bats,” EL coach Elaine Desrosby said. “Sometimes we chose not to, and sometimes we find them later. The last two games, we found them later, but we found them enough.”

EL (3-2) had to rally from a pair of two-run deficits, but opened up leads of 7-4 and 10-6 before holding off the Eagles (2-3).

“It just kind of fuels us to hit harder and play well on defense,” second baseman Melissa Paione said of the early deficit. “As a team we’re really young, but we still have a lot of experienced players on our team.”

Ashlee Arnold had two hits and drove in three runs while Paione and Miranda Martin each drove in a pair with two hits. Kory Norcross and Kennedy Hubbard also drove in runs for EL, which has won three straight after an 0-2 start.

“We started the season 0-2, just like we did a year ago,” said Derosby. “I reminded them of that. This four-game stretch has been huge for us. I feel we’re more talented overall than the teams we’re playing. If we can keep focused, we can really build confidence-wise after last week.”

Both teams were hitless through the first three innings, but Mt. Ararat broke the stalemate in the fourth. Taylor Pare singled in a run and another scored on a Mallory Nelson fielder’s choice when EL forgot there were two outs and failed to get the inning-ending out at first.

“That’s the way it was the other day (against Morse), we had to battle back from 2-0,” Derosby said.

EL tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Norcross tripled in Paione and scored on a Hubbard sacrifice fly.

The Eagles took another two-run lead with a pair in the fifth. Shanna Williams tripled in a run and scored on a single by Miranda Riendeau.

EL came back strong in the fifth with five runs on three hits and some shaky play in the field by the Eagles, making it 7-4.

“The fifth inning we decided to show what we were made of,” said Derosby. “It started with Kristen (Whittaker). She’s been in a little bit of a slump. She came up to the plate and decided this is her time. That really started us off, and everyone just followed.”

Whittaker led off with a triple and scored when Mt. Ararat misplayed Danielle Rock’s grounder. Martin followed with a triple that tied the game at 4-4. Paione then singled up the middle to plate Martin, and Arnold singled in a pair for a 7-4 lead.

“We feed off each other, and we try to stay positive,” Paione said. “That helps us at the plate and in the field. We try to keep each other up, and that’s what keeps us from getting down if we fall behind.”

Mt. Ararat cut it to 7-6 in the sixth when Kirstin Demars doubled in a pair. EL answered with three more in the bottom of the inning. Martin drove in a run with an infield hit. Paione and Arnold followed with RBI singles. The Eagles added one more in the seventh on a Riendeau solo homer.

“Once somebody gets a really good hit, everybody starts hitting,” said Paione. “I just think it’s the positive energy that keeps us nice and healthy.”

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