Mesa Mountain View softball coach Bill Roberts has seen two innings of his daughters games this season. Marlee and Morgan Roberts do not play for their father at Mountain View. They attend Skyline and play for the Coyotes. The season is such that dad is busy the same time they are so their paths rarely cross.

But this week was a bonus for Bill Roberts and family. Mtn View had a regular-season game scheduled against Skyline so that put father and dughters on the same field at the same time this past Tuesday. As fortune would have it, they meet again Saturday with the stakes higher in the first round of the 5A-I state tournament at Mountain View.

"We knew this is the way it would be, but when we play each other it's fun," Bill Roberts, who coached Skyline's softball team several years ago before moving over to Mountain View, said. "They've been brought up in a competitive house (five other siblings) . It's my goal to win to win, and theirs, too. But whatever happens I still love them."

The team's played last year when just  Marlee was on Skyline's varsity. The Coyotes prevailed. They did not meet in the 2010 postseason.

 "We got the first one this year, but the one (Saturday) counts the most," Bill Roberts said.

Marlee Roberts is a regular in Skyline's lineup; Morgan Roberts is a reserve, playing in about a third of Skyline's games. Bill Roberts said he was helping Marlee with her hitting after the teams played earlier in the week. He stopped to think if it was the right thing.

"You better not use this to do something to beat us," dad said jokingly.

Don't think the elder Roberts would be too displeased if either of his daughters had a big game on Saturday. But then again, it is a competitive house.