PEARL — It was a half inning that seemed as if it would never end.

It included 13 runs, 18 batters and 59 pitches. When it finally did end, more than 40 minutes after it started, St. Aloysius had put a padlock on its second straight Class 1A championship. The Flashes took a 16-1 lead with the huge rally and went on to beat Myrtle 18-1 Friday in Game 3 of the Class 1A finals at Trustmark Park.

St. Al senior Ryno Martin-Nez capped his career with a pair of two-run singles in the inning. The first came off Hawks’ starter Beau Cummings and the last against reliever Adam Baker.

“I don’t think I’ve done that in a game before,” Martin-Nez said. “I was glad to show a little of the old ‘Ryno’ there.”

Cummings, Myrtle’s ace, didn’t have it Friday. He was sharp in a Game 1 loss but lasted just 1 2/3 innings in Game 3. He gave up 11 runs, five hits, four walks and hit three batters in his short stint. Cummings threw 39 pitches in the top of the second and 59 total.

As the second inning progressed, Cummings became visibly upset on the mound.

“He got angry and then frustrated,’ Martin-Nez said.

The Flashes struck for three runs in the first inning off Cummings. Then a simple ground ball to third started his downfall.

Third baseman Justin Pickens had been Myrtle’s most reliable infielder in the championship series with six errorless chances, including a double play in the first inning of Game 3. But his throw on Brendan Beesley’s roller went too high for first baseman Jimel Judon. Judon tagged Beesley on top of the helmet, but Beesley was ruled safe. Judon then fired the ball back toward the mound and past his pitcher, allowing Beesley to go to second base on the play’s second error.

“You could tell he was ticked off,” St Al pitcher Stephen Evans said. “And I know, it is hard to pitch when you are ticked off.”

Cummings’ command, which wasn’t that good to begin with in the first inning, vanished when he hit Pierson Waring and Blake Haygood with consecutive pitches. Martin-Nez followed with the first of his two RBI hits, a laser to left field. Cummings then walked four of the next five batters with the only solace being a strikeout. A bases-loaded walk to Josh Eargle made it 8-1 and Myrtle coach Robert Gordon had seen enough.

“My No. 1 guy just did not have his best stuff today. He said before the game that he felt good. We had rehabbed him pretty good after the start on Tuesday. But some days he’s had those issues with control. He got behind hitters. He couldn’t spot his fastball, he couldn’t spot his curveball and when he did, they hit it. I knew we were in trouble when I saw early on how out of control he was,” Gordon said.

Baker relieved Cummings, but didn’t fare any better. He was rocked for five hits, including Beesley’s two-run double, Waring’s two-run single and Martin-Nez’s second two-run hit of the inning. Evans and Regan Nosser capped the 13-run rally with RBI singles to give the Flashes an incredible 16-1 lead.

St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson felt his team would respond after letting Myrtle off the hook in Game 2 as the Hawks rallied for a 5-4 win on Wednesday.

“These guys have a lot of fight in them. I knew we were deep in pitching. Even though we had our guy on the mound, we had our No. 3 guy ready to go. The thing with their guy, though, was he fell behind. When he got behind, we hit everything hard. You could tell he was tired. He was leaving the ball up,” Wilkerson said.

Evans, the Game 1 winner, was appreciative of the run support, even though he did have to sit a lot during the carnage.

“I just tried to stay cool. When they got two out, I started to toss a little. I was glad to have all the run support, but I knew I wanted to go out there and fill the zone even more,” Evans said.

The Game 3 demolition of Myrtle sent St. Al’s seven seniors out on an excellent note.

Six of them had huge series. In three games, Martin-Nez went 5-for-8 with four RBIs and five runs scored. Waring, Haygood, Nosser and Evans all drove in four runs apiece. And Beesley, the senior catcher in the nine hole, had a team-high five RBIs.

“This was the best. What a great way to go out,” Nosser said.