From staff reports

Johnathan Longmire’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning gave St. Aloysius a wild win in the opening game of a Class 1A regional at Stringer.

St. Al wasted an early 4-1 lead, then rallied from a 7-4 deficit with a pair of two-run homers by Blake Tidwell and Jordan Muirhead. Salem tied it at 8-8 with a run in the top of the seventh before Longmire’s bases-loaded fly ball to center won it in the bottom of the inning.

Muirhead was 2-for-4 with a double, homer and four RBIs, while Lambert Culley had three hits and Curtis Robertson had two for St. Al (15-7).

The Flashes were scheduled to play Stringer in a winner’s bracket game today at 1 p.m.

PCA 15, Lee, Ark. 0

Porters Chapel overcame a slow start to rout Lee, Ark., and complete a two-game sweep of their first-round Academy-A playoff series.

PCA (20-5) scored all of its runs and had 15 of its 16 hits in the third and fourth innings. The game was stopped after four innings by the 12-run mercy rule.

“We just started hitting the ball,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “The first couple innings we hit it hard, just right at them. The third and fourth inning, we started finding the holes.”

Judd Mims led PCA’s assault by going 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Moose Carney was 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBIs, and Hayden Hales went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.

Every PCA starter scored at least one run, making life easier for pitcher Matt Cranfield.

The freshman hurler gave up three hits in the first inning, then didn’t allow a baserunner the rest of the way.

He struck out six and walked none to earn the victory.

PCA will now play Benton in the second round, beginning Monday.