The first obstacle in St. Aloysius’ playoff path offered as little resistance as the trees against the gentle breeze that blew across Bazinsky Park on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Flashes routed West Lowndes, 12-0 and 17-1, to sweep their Class 1A play-in round series and advance to the main bracket.

St. Al will face Stringer in a first-round series Monday and Tuesday. The times and format of the series — whether the teams will play Games 1 and 2, or Games 2 and 3 as a doubleheader — have not yet been determined.

Stringer eliminated St. Al from its last postseason appearance, in 2012, but St. Al won 3-2 on March 22 in the only meeting between the teams this season.

“It’s going to be a really big difference,” St. Al coach Candice Reeder said. “Stringer’s defense is excellent, Stringer’s hitting is excellent. They’re a good ball team. But we’re perfectly capable of beating them — and we have.”

The series with Stringer figures to be far more competitive than the one with West Lowndes. The Lady Panthers did not win a game this season, yet qualified for the playoffs as the No. 3 seed from a three-team division.

St. Al (11-8) pitchers Avery Parman and Sarah Hudson did not allow a hit in the two-game sweep. West Lowndes’ run in Game 2 came after Tamyia Tucker walked and scored on an error.

By that time, St. Al led 13-0 and was counting the outs until it could make more outs. After going up 17-1 in the third inning, and thus being in range for the 15-run mercy rule, St. Al’s runners intentionally wandered off their respective bases before a pitch was thrown to record an automatic out and speed up the game.

“We get to add some wins to our record and it gets us into the playoffs. As far as helping us get ready for Stringer, Stringer has really good pitching so we have to get back out here tomorrow and get ready on the pitching machine again,” Reeder said.

The Lady Flashes had a dozen hits in each game. Jordan McDonald, Brooklyn Richards and Madison Heggins had two apiece in Game 1.

In Game 2, Heggins went 2-for-2 with an inside-the-park home run, a double, and three RBIs. Michelle Howingtown was 3-for-3 with a double, triple, RBI and two runs scored. Richards drove in two runs, and Hudson was 2-for-2 with an RBI double.