Richard Smith

West Valley Preps

A young Mountain Ridge softball team learned a valuable lesson Thursday night - sometimes your chance to win a game arrives in the early innings.

The visiting Mountain Lions loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning against Phoenix Horizon No. 2 pitcher Ashley Gullmette. A ground out ended the threat and the Mountain Lions would only get two runners in scoring position in the subsequent six innings. in

Junior ace Morgan Leinstock came in fresh in the fourth inning to protect a 3-0 lead. She struck out 10 of the 15 batters she faced in four scoreless innings.

"I want to be competitive in every single game. Early we played Pinnacle and got blown out and you could see they were scared to death," Mountain Ridge coach Kent Decker said. "We're going to see the best of the best and as long as they battle with them, that's our goal. You saw that here, a 3-0 game. Tiffany (Williams) is buying into the way I call pitches. Today she just pitched her rear end off for us and kept us in the game."

Horizon (11-6-1, 5-2 regular season) is ready to battle the best of 6A. The regular season losses were to defending champion Chandler Hamilton and 2017 semifinalist Gilbert Perry.

More big fish await in the heart of region play. Two games with Phoenix O’Connor await in early April, then the Huskies close with two against rival Phoenix Pinnacle.

To do that, they will need two reliable pitchers.

“Ashley is a senior and she’s struggling a little bit right now but we’re really trying to get her in a groove because we’re going to need her if we’re going to go the distance,” Horizon coach Jackie Coburn said. “That first inning got a little rough. I think she’s trying to find her comfort level but she was much better after that and I’m proud of her.”

After freshman phenom Spencer Prigge hit two of her 10 home runs against the Mountain Lions in the Huskies 7-4 win Monday in Glendale, the visitors made a conscious effort to stay away from Horizon’s power source, walking her twice.

So the Huskies received contributions throughout their lineup, getting seven hits from six players. Junior Breanna Burden had two hits, including a first-inning RBI that drove in junior leadoff hitter Ashlyn Senior.

Prigge had walked earlier and moved to third on Burden’s single. Senior Neeley Bell singled to bring Prigge home.

“What’s good to see is, everybody’s hitting. We played Xavier and everybody hit,” Coburn said. “They walked Spencer and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re finding a groove with the lineup and I think it’s pretty set now.”

Mountain Ridge (4-6, 3-5 regular season) also made junior starter Tiffany Williams’ job more difficult in the second.

Horizon sophomore Kaity Woods singled to lead off the inning then tried to steal second. An errant throw allowed her to come all the way home with an insurance run.

Williams settled down from there, scattering three hits in the final four innings of work.

“My defense was so incredible. I was able to throw where I wanted and I knew they could make the plays,” Williams said. “When I got those strikeouts it really helped keep our energy up and I could push through those last couple innings.”

Sophomore Paige Callahan was a bright spot for the Mountain Lions, hitting two singles against Leinstock, who otherwise allowed only one other Mountain Ridge player on base.

“It’s unbelievable what Paige Callahan is doing for us. She had two hits off (Leinstock) Monday too. She’s keeping it simple,” Decker said.

Mountain Ridge junior Tiffany Williams winds up for the pitch during a 3-0 loss to Horizon Thursday. [Josh Martinez/Independent Newsmedia][/caption]