St. Al’s Lyons mowing down opponents

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 14, 2003

St. Aloysius pitcher Laura Beth Lyons, the daughter of Joe and Cindy Lyons, delivers a pitch in her shutout of St. Frederick, La., on Saturday. In the last three games, Lyons has thrown two one-hitters and a five-inning no-hitter. (Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[3/14/03] After she had finished shutting down St. Frederick, La., on Saturday, Laura Beth Lyons took a deep breath and said she was tired. After the week she had, that should come as no surprise.

Lyons, a junior pitcher for St. Aloysius, was nearly unhittable in the Lady Flashes’ first three games of the season last week. She allowed only two hits in the three games a total of 21 innings and had 33 strikeouts while pitching two one-hitters and a five-inning no-hitter.

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“I’m just glad to be able to do this,” Lyons said after throwing a nine-inning one-hitter against St. Frederick. “It makes me feel like I’ve improved a lot since last year.”

Lyons wasn’t exactly a slouch in 2002, though. In 20 games, she went 12-4 with two saves. She had 108 strikeouts in 116 innings, posted a minuscule 0.75 ERA, and helped the Lady Flashes reach the South State finals.

She worked with a pitching coach during the offseason to improve her technique and location, as well as add a new pitch or two, and the extra work is paying off.

She had 14 strikeouts in each of St. Al’s first two games this season, a 4-1 win over St. Andrew’s and an 11-0 rout of Sebastopol. The win over Sebastopol was a five-inning no-hitter for Lyons, meaning only one batter put a ball in play against her.

“(Against Sebastopol) she was probably in the best groove I’ve seen her in in a long time,” St. Al coach Gene Rogillio said, adding that catcher Candice Park also played a role. “That pitcher is only as good as that backstop, and Candice helped a lot.”

Her best performance may have been on Saturday against St. Frederick, however. Fighting fatigue from the previous night’s game, Lyons was locked in a duel with St. Frederick pitchers Jennifer Trahan and Jennifer Tudor that took near perfection to win.

Lyons, Trahan and Tudor had a rare double no-hitter going until the sixth inning, when Trahan delivered a clean two-out single. The base hit broke a string of 17 consecutive batters that Lyons had retired and, more impressively, a streak of 12-2/3 no-hit innings that spanned three games.

Lyons didn’t allow another hit the rest of the way, and the Lady Flashes won the game in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0.

Eventually, teams may start to figure out Lyons. If her performance during the rest of the season is even close to the way she has started, however, big things could be in store for the Lady Flashes, Rogillio said.

“It’s just one of those things that hopefully she’s going to keep on doing throughout the season, and if she does we’re going to be all right,” he said.