A hitter's duel between the pitchers broke out Tuesday afternoon as two of the hottest teams in Division I softball squared off -- Chandler rivals Basha and Perry.

While Perry pitcher Jillian Leslie out-homered her Basha counterpart, Kailey Regester, 2-1, Regester's one blast proved decisive.

Regester lined a two-run homer to center in the bottom of the the fifth to lift last year's big-school runners-up to a 5-4 elimination game win over visiting Perry.

Basha (30-5)won its 13th game in a row and advances to the final eight and double-elimination play that begins on Thursday. Basha faces Centennial, a 5-1 winner over Desert  Mountain as the tourney switches  to the Rose Mofford Complex. Perrry, which had a 10-game winning streak snapped, finished 19-16 but with plenty of pride and tenacity.

It was hardly a surprise that Leslie and Regester engaged in a war of homers. They led their  teams in that department this season and continued showcasing their power. Leslie's second home run of the contest in the top of the fifth capped a three-run rally that put Perry in front, 4-3. Lindsay Heffron's two-run homer one batter earlier helped bring the Pumas all the way back from a 3-0 first-inning deficit.

Regester, a senior and clutch player throughout her career, hammered Leslie's first pitch in the bottom of the fifth for the game-winner. Regester's teammate, Hailey Maher, reached base in front of her on a throwing error and the Bears had the momentum back they had lost in the top half.

That wasn't  the end, however, of the Lesile-Regester battle. Perry opened the seventh with singles from Becca Aguallo and Layne Gomez. Regester induced two foul outs by the next two hitters. With one out left Leslie stepped in again. Regester got ahead with a first-pitche strike and produced the final out by getting Leslie to pop a low changeup harmlessly to right field for the final out.

"Kailey is something when the pressure is on," Basha coach Scott Hoffmeyer said. "We've shown the ability to come back late in games this year..... It was a good rivalry game. They came in hot and focused more than the times we saw them before. They didn't care they were down to the No. 1 seed. They fought back."

A hit batter and throwing error combined to hurt Perry in the first inning when Basha jumped on top. The extra out brought Hailee Siroky to the plate with two outs and   two on and she lined a double to the gap in right center to cap a gift 3-spot.

Perry outhit Basha, 10-5, but two of three errors the Pumas committed gave Basha four of its five runs. Regester, who beat Perry 3-0 and 5-2 during the regular season and fanned 10 in both games, fanned five this time. Not nearly as sharp, but good enough to win.