[04/18/01] DECATUR Defending state champion Newton County gave first-time playoff participant St. Aloysius a harsh orientation Tuesday.

Newton County (32-2) took advantage of three St. Al errors and a couple of mental mistakes to build an early 11-1 lead in the first game of the best two-out-of-three series, then scored in every inning of game two to roll to a 14-1 win and sweep the Lady Flashes (11-7) out of the playoffs.

“I’m as proud of this bunch as I can be. When you consider we’re a 1A team and we’re in a 3A district … you can’t fault this bunch,” St. Al coach Gene Rogillio said. “When you stop and look at us, our average grade is about 9.5 … It has to be encouraging. When you can make the playoffs in two years, that’s phenomenal.”

The Lady Flashes were handcuffed all day long by Newton pitcher April Bufkin, who allowed only three hits in eight innings of work, two of them by Danielle Klaus. Klaus also drove in two runs in game one.

Bufkin struck out 10 St. Al batters in game one and three more in game two, and also drove in three runs with a single and a sacrifice fly in the second game.

“She threw probably faster than anybody we faced all year,” Rogillio said.

Still, the Lady Flashes got off to a good start against Bufkin. Laura Beth Lyons drew a one-out walk in the top of the first in game one, then stole second and scored on Klaus’ RBI single to give St. Al a 1-0 lead.

Then the bottom fell out.

Two dropped fly balls, a botched rundown and a misjudged fly ball led to four unearned runs for the Lady Cougars. In the second inning, another St. Al error led to a two-run triple by Newton’s Dominique Mapp, and RBI singles by Bufkin, Suzanne Chaney and Stephanie Airhart keyed a seven-run inning and put Newton ahead 11-1.

“I don’t think we were nervous, we were just like, We’re playing the defending state champions,'” said Lyons, the losing pitcher.

St. Al settled down in the middle innings, and cut it to 11-3 in the fourth on an RBI triple by Klaus, who then scored on a wild pitch.

“Once we settled down, we started playing good ball,” St. Al senior Keiko Booth said.

Newton finished the game by the 10-run mercy rule with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, however, and continued the roll into game two.

The Lady Cougars sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and got two-run singles from Bufkin and right fielder Jennifer Williamson to open a 6-0 lead. Newton added one run in the second and three runs in the third and fourth inning.

“It looked like we had a little more intensity in the second game,” Newton coach Mack Fanning said.

St. Al, meanwhile, scored an unearned run in the third but didn’t get a hit until Klaus singled to center off reliever Chaney with two outs in the fourth.

“I think we kind of got down. And when you’re dealing with a young ball team, you do you’re best to get them up but it’s hard to do,” Rogillio said.

Despite the rocky ending, the Lady Flashes were upbeat about the season. After going 3-10 in its first season of fast-pitch, in 2000, St. Al challenged for the division title with Class 3A Franklin County this season and made the playoffs as the division runner-up, despite having only one senior and two seventh-grade starters.

“We’re disappointed we lost, but proud we made it this far,” said Keiko Booth, St. Al’s only senior. “Overall, we did good this year.”