About the only difference between Desert Ridge's tournament-title victory Thursday afternoon over Basha and its win Wednesday against Queen Creek to reach the championship game was the absence of a triple play vs. Queen Creek.

Desert Ridge scored all five of its runs in one inning Thursday and turned a triple play in the fifth inning in beating Basha, 5-2, to win the Mesquite Baseball Tournament at Mesquite High School.

Desert Ridge makes the turn so to speak from invitationals to power-ranking contests with a record of 7-5. The Jaguars were 4-1 this week and prevailed with defense and pitching the past couple days. Basha saw an eight-game winning streak end in a game the Bears outhit Desert Ridge, 8-3. Basha also is done with tournaments and turns its focus on power-ranking games the rest of the way. Basha stands at 10-2 after going 4-1 this week.

in posting Thursday's victory, Desert Ridge tallied five times on one hit, five walks and an error to put Basha in an early hole. Basha starter Ethan Anderson was wiithin an out of escaping  the jam with only two runs, but the fourth of five walks in the inning filled the bases for RBI-machine Nick Labella. Labella lined a three-run double to the gap in right-center field making the free passes sting even more.

On Wednesday in what turned out to be the Mesquite pool title game vs. Queen Creek, Desert Ridge scored five runs in the third inning on two hits en route to a 5-3 win. Labella delivered the key hit in that one as well  -- a two-run single.

Desert Ridge right-hander Brenden Morris scattered eight hits, did not allow a walk and fanned four in hurling the complete-game victory. In the first, fifth and sixth-innings Morris gave up two hits, but his defense had his back. The Jaguars threw out a runner at home in the first and turned double plays in the third and seventh. The back-breaker for Basha came in the fifth when Desert Ridge notched a triple play. Desert Ridge got six strong innings the day before from ace Max Cook in topping Queen Creek.

Back-to-back singles by Conner Hughes and Ryan Tierney opened the inning. After  a five-minue delay to tend to an injured Hughes at second after an attempted pickoff, Morris' resumed pitching to Skylar Dorn with a 2-2 count. Dorn smoked a line drive directly at second baseman Tanner Lewis. Both runners were too aggressive and Lewis fed shortstop Ian Raidy at second for the second out. Raidy's relay to Tyler Muzzy at first completed the triple play.

HIGHLAND 7, FRANKLIN (El Paso, Tx) 1: Brock Whittlesey scattered seven hits, allowed an unearned run and struck out eight Thursday night in pitching the host Hawks past Franklin in the championship game of  Highland's Triple Play Classic at Highland High.

Highland scored six of its seven runs in the first three innings, taking advantage of six Franklin errors along the way in building a 6-0 lead. Austin Parent and Matt Smith collected two RBI apiece to lead Highland's offense. Highland improved to 6-5 overall for the season and posted a 4-1 record in the tournament. The Hawks have a week off before returning to action March 19 when they host rival Gilbert High.