The St. Aloysius Lady Flashes will need a reversal of fortune tonight after dropping Game 1 of their playoff series with Stringer.

The Lady Red Devils jumped out to a 12-run lead by the third inning and went on to win 17-4 in a four-inning, mercy-rule shortened game.

St. Al coach Candice Reeder said she was disappointed to see her team’s out-of-character performance Wednesday afternoon at Bazinsky Park.

“They hit the ball and we didn’t. We had a lot of errors and they didn’t,” she said. “That scoreboard is not a reflection of the team I’ve been coaching all year.”

After posting one run in the first, the Lady Red Devils opened it up in the second, capitalizing on timely hitting and a slew of St. Al errors.

By the end of the top of the second, Stringer held an 8-0 lead with five hits complimented by three errors from the Lady Flashes (11-9).

In the top of the third inning, Stringer posted four more runs to push the lead to 12-0. The Lady Flashes were able to claw back within eight in the bottom of the third after singles from Allie Willis, Jordan McDonald, Avery Parman and Brooklyn Richards, the latter two of which brought in two runs. Madison Heggins’ single brought Parman and Richards home.

In the top of the fourth, Stringer tacked on five more runs to give itself a 17-4 lead and the won by the 12-run mercy rule after the inning.

St. Al travels to Stringer tonight for Game 2. If the Lady Flashes win, Game 3 will follow immediately afterward.

“They can either lay down or dig deep and go back and fight and play two games instead of one,” Reeder said. “There’s nothing I can say or do to them. It’s got to be self-motivation. It’s not a reflection of who we are.

“Most of the time we’re able to bounce back,” Reeder added. “They never stop fighting. This time we weren’t able to control the runs. It’s up to them.”