Thursday evening was a perfect night for softball and, very nearly, for Heather Huff.

The West Lincoln right-hander retired the first 18 batters she faced before St. Aloysius’ Amy Beaugh reached on an error, then settled for a no-hitter and a 6-0 win over the Lady Flashes.

&#8220I was totally unaware of that,” Huff said of her attempt at perfection. &#8220I had a really good defense backing me up. That was pretty much all I had.”

Huff didn’t have overpowering stuff, but relied on an off-night from St. Al’s bats and a solid defense to shut down the Lady Flashes.

Nearly every ball St. Al hit was within easy grasp of a West Lincoln fielder, and the Lady Bears didn’t miss any chances until Beaugh hit a weak pop-up leading off the bottom of the seventh. West Lincoln third baseman Shelby Lofton got under the ball, but lost it in the lights and allowed it to fall, ruining the perfect game.

Huff didn’t miss a beat, though. She coaxed another pop-up from Catelyn Park, catching it herself and firing to first to double up Beaugh. She then got Mary Myers Franco to pop out to second to end the game.

&#8220It happens,” St. Al coach Gene Rogillio said of St. Al’s off-night at the plate. &#8220Everything we hit, they’d take two steps and they had it. And then everything they hit was pretty much everywhere we weren’t. It was just a bad night. We’ll learn from it and pick up tomorrow.”

St. Al starter Sarah Franco matched Huff early on, notching eight strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. Then, a combination of good execution by the Lady Bears and poor fielding by the Lady Flashes helped West Lincoln blow the game open.

The Lady Bears manufactured a run in the third when Alexis Cook led off with a walk and eventually scored on a groundout by Brittnee Smith.

In the fourth, Hannah Knouse came through with a two-out single and advanced to second on an outfield error before scoring on Cook’s double. Holli Smith followed with a single and another outfielder’s error, helping to score Cook and make it 3-0.

West Lincoln added another unearned run in the fifth, then tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh for the final margin. Smith led West Lincoln’s attack by going 2-for-3 with a double, triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.