Danielle Klaus, from left, Kelly Haden, Candace Park and Allison Hearn cheer on their St. Al teammates. Hanging on the fence is their good-luck charm, Flasher, the stuffed parrot.(The Vicksburg Posts/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[04/11/02]Allison Hearn is going out in style. The senior went 2-for-3 with an RBI as St. Aloysius beat Mize, 7-1, Wednesday to win the division championship in the program’s third year.

“This is so exciting,” said Hearn, who has been with the team since the beginning. “We’ve got a good team. We work well together.”

Without Hearn on the mound for the last three weeks, coach Gene Rogillio has turned to Laura Beth Lyons.

She responded, too.

Playing with what she said was the onset of strep throat, Lyons struck out nine, walked one and allowed just three hits to stop the Lady Bulldogs (9-3, 2-2).

“This is our year,” said Lyons, who scored two runs.

The Lady Flashes (13-4, 4-0 Division 7-1A) won home-field advantage, but they had to give it up because they can’t start the first round of the best-of-three series on Friday. The seniors have a school retreat in Tennessee over the weekend.

Enterprise will be here Monday, then St. Al will go there for a doubleheader, if necessary.

“It doesn’t make a difference we’re playing to win wherever we go,” Rogillio said.

It looked like things would go St. Al’s way when two runs scored on Hearn’s first-inning strikeout. She ran to first on a passed ball, then Lyons and Leslie Dyess scored on the the throw down, then a bad throw home.

St. Al managed just five hits, but forced seven errors.

An error and two wild pitches put Mary Myers Franco at third and she scored on Amber Misiac’s grounder to put St. Al up 3-0 in the second. Lyons got a two-out single in the fifth and, after Dyess reached on an error, Hearn got an RBI single and Dyess scored when Danielle Klaus reached on an error.

In the sixth, Kelly Haden led off with a triple and scored on Candace Park’s groundout. Franco then reached on an error and scored on Anna Fulcher’s groundout.

St. Al committed one error and turned two double plays.

“Our hitting has to get better” going into the playoffs, said Rogillio, who was doused with water after the win.

St. Al could have lost by six runs and still won the title.

“The idea of losing just doesn’t appeal to me,” Rogillio said.