Stringer has become mongoose to St. Aloysius’ cobra.

The Lady Red Devils bagged their second consecutive Division 7-1A championship with a 2-1 victory over St. Al on Wednesday, completing the sweep of the season series.

For a second consecutive year, the Lady Flashes were denied by their archrivals, who fortunately move up to Class 2A next season.

St. Al has played a torturous six games in five days thanks to the constant assault of storm fronts every few days. Fatigue could have played a role, as Stringer was playing its first game in a week.

“I don’t know if it didn’t or did. It’s hard to say,” St. Al coach Gene Rogillio said about the fatigue factor.

“But I thought our kids were still ready to play and we played one heck of a ball game.”

In the St. Al second inning, Mallory McGuffie led off with a double and Katie Koestler ripped another two-bagger to drive her in. But the Lady Flashes orphaned Koestler in scoring position as pitcher Aaron Herrington induced a pair of groundball outs to close out the frame.

The 1-0 lead held for most of the contest until the sixth inning. St. Al ace Sarah Franco, throwing her fifth game in the span of a week, yielded a double off the fence to Anna Walters. She recovered to strike out the next two Devils, but a passed ball allowed Walters to take third and she scored the tying run on another passed ball. Franco walked the next batter and then seven-hole hitter Robyn Brady ripped a double deep to left center to bring home the lead run.

Herrington allowed a leadoff single to Sara Howington, one of her two hits in the contest, to start off the St. Al sixth. Koestler ripped a perfect deep shot down the right field line, but Cambri McQueen robbed her of an extra-base hit and a possible RBI with a great basket catch. Herrington induced an easy groundout to end the frame and retired the Lady Flashes in order in the seventh.

“She (McQueen) just threw her glove at it and the ball landed in it,” Rogillio said with a laugh about the spectacular catch. “But it doesn’t matter what it looks like, because it was an out. You can flip-flop, jump up and down, do calisthenics and then catch the ball, but an out is an out.”

Franco was the hard-luck loser, tossing 10 strikeouts while yielding six hits. The Lady Flashes will open the Class 1A playoffs at home against Ethel.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com.