On a night when ace pitcher Sarah Franco wasn’t perfect, the St. Aloysius offense nearly was.

The Lady Flashes (7-2, 1-1 in Division 7-1A) took advantage of every opportunity as they ripped previously undefeated division foe Puckett 11-4 on Tuesday.

Errors helped, but clutch hits with runners on turned what could have been a close matchup into a blowout.

“Sarah knows that we have become a much better hitting ballclub,” St. Al coach Gene Rogilliosaid. “So she goes out there with a little more confidence than she has had in the past. If we can keep on hitting like we have, cut down on some of these gimmes, well, our whole purpose is to win district and wind up at state.”

Franco recorded nine strikeouts, but walked four and allowed three hits and four runs.

“That was the most walks I’ve had since I was 12,” Franco, fighting off a bit of the flu, said. “I guess it was because I was sick, but I don’t want to blame it on that because it’d seem like an excuse..”

Sara Howington drove in two of St. Al’s first four runs off a double and a line-drive single. Franco brought in Catelyn Park off a sac bunt in the third as the Lady Flashes jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead.

But Puckett battled back. Alyssa James and Lauren Dotson ripped RBI doubles to halve the deficit in the top of the fourth.

However, Franco supplied the mortal blow to Puckett’s hopes in the bottom of the frame. After Haley Heggins and Hannah Barrett led off the frame with sharply-hit singles, Franco crushed the second offering of the at-bat from Hollis Benton out to the fence. Heggins and Barrett scored easily to boost the lead back to four runs at 6-2.

In the fifth, St. Al beat down the door with four runs in the inning. Kay Kay DeRossette plated one run off a perfectly-deadened sac bunt and Heggins singled home another. She would later get her second RBI off a single to account for St. Al’s final run.

“This is the first year, since I’ve been on the team, that we’ve hit like we’ve needed to,” Franco said.

The big chance for Puckett (5-1) came in the top of the sixth. Two walks and an error loaded the basepaths with one out and St. Al leading 10-2. But Franco bore down, struck out the next batter and induced an easy tapper to second to get out of the jam.

Puckett added a couple of runs in the seventh after Franco yielded consecutive singles to start the final frame. But the defense, allowed nothing more after James cleared the bases off a single.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com.