2 unbeaten teams, 3 Tucson schools reach elite DMTN SB bracket

March 20, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Mountain Ridge and Pinnacle finished off 4-0 records on the final day of pool play Friday by beating unbeaten oppponents in their final games at the annual Desert Mountain Softball Tournament at Horizon Park.

Mountain Ridge bashed three homers and received a one-hit, 15-strikeout performance from Giselle Juarez in shutting out Corona del Sol, 5-0. Taylor Kaye, Alyssa DiCarlo and Riley Seegan homered in support of another dominating effort by the left-handed Juarez .Mountain Ridge defeated Mountain Pointe, Basha, Queen Creek and Corona.

Pinnacle won the other battle of unbeatens with a 10-4 victory over Ironwood Ridge to nab the No. 2 seed. Pinnacle registered wins over Highland, Mesa Mountain View, Red Mountain and Ironwood Ridge. Ironwood Ridge ended Horizon's 12-game winning streak to open the season with a 4-0 shutout of the Lady Huskies. Ironwood Ridge's Kelly Decker outdueled Horizon's T Statman in that one.

Ironwood Ridge has company from the old Pueblo in the elite eight with Canyon del Oro and Sahuaro. CDO and Sahuaro matched Ironwood Ridge with 3-1 pool play records. CDO won twice on Friday -- 18-2 over Deer Valley and 13-2 over Mesa Mountain View. Sahuaro beat Gilbert, 5-3; and lost to Red Mountain 5-1. The Lady Cougars beat Hamilton and Chaparral earlier in pool play.

Red Mountain is the only team posting a 2-2 record in pool play to reach the elite eight. The Lady Lions win over Sahuaro punched their ticket to the bracket and could have sent Sahuaro to the 9-16 bracket. Sahuaro hung on to the No. 8 seed when Seton stunned Desert Mountain, 13-5, in the final game of the night. Desert Mountain missed the elite eight by a point in the power-rankings that decide bracket play seeding.

Mountain Ridge is the No. 1 seed in the elite-eight bracket, which begins play Saturday (March 21) at 11 a.m. at Horizon Park. Other elite-eight matchups also at 11 a.m. are  No.4  Ironwood Ridge (the defending Division II state champs vs. No. 5 Red Mountain (the five-time defending D-I champs); No. 3 Corona del Sol vs. No. 6 Canyon del Oro and No. 2 Pinnacle vs. No. 7 Horizon.