One big hit took a shutout and a no-hitter away from Stephanie Schoonover, and led to a couple of tense moments.

That’s all it did, though.

Schoonover came within an out of a no-hitter, and St. Aloysius scored five runs in the fourth inning to beat Ethel 6-3 on Thursday in Game 1 of a Class 1A playoff series at Bazinsky Park.

Game 2 is today at 4 p.m. at Ethel. If Ethel wins, a deciding Game 3 will be played immediately afterward.

“It took us a second to get on it. We made them make some errors, but we left a lot of runners on. We can’t do that again tomorrow,” St. Al coach Candice Reeder said. “Other than that, they’ve worked their tails off to get to this point. We’ve just got to go tomorrow and do it again.”

Schoonover, a seventh-grader, walked two batters and struck out six. She didn’t give up a hit until Halea Wood slammed a double to the center field fence with two outs in the seventh inning.

Wood’s double cleared the bases and cut Ethel’s deficit to 6-3, but Schoonover coaxed a ground out from Brooklyn Pitt to end the game.

Catcher Brooklyn Richards threw three runners out who were trying to steal second, and the Lady Flashes did enough offensively in a two-inning burst to secure the win.

A single by Allie Willis and two errors loaded the bases in the fourth inning for Schoonover, who hit into a fielder’s choice to bring in the game’s first run.

Another fielder’s choice and an error led to three more runs. Grace Upshaw capped the rally with an RBI single to give St. Al a 5-0 lead.

Schoonover was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth to make it 6-0.

Willis went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored for St. Al, and Schoonover was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.

“They were tough. They hung with us early,” Reeder said of Ethel. “They were good. They hit the ball, and they just hit it to us. We just have to make sure they do it again tomorrow.”