Red Mountain's softball team finished up its first game and win over Sabino in the Desert Mountain Invitational on Wednesday afternoon crashing three home runs to cap a 14-1 triumph..

The Lady Lions bats didn't cool off over night. On Thursday afternoon Red Mountain scored five runs in the first inning against Paradise Valley -- again using three homers in an inning -- and rode that frame to a 9-5 win over PV on the third day of the tournament at Horizon Park.

On Wednesday Red Mountain's homer trio was Marian Ruf, Ashley Hill and Bre Macha. Thursday leadoff hitter Alyssa Fernandez, a right-handed hitter, homered to right to open the game. Two batters later with a runner on, Macha's blast was a little deeper to left-center. The next batter, catcher Jordan Beck, crushed one even deeper to left center for a 4-0 lead. The half-inning ended with Red Mountain putting up five runs on six hits. The Lady Lions finished with 19 hits. Red Mountain ran its tourney record to 3-0 by rallying from a 4-0 deficit in beating Queen Creek, 5-4, later in the day. Beck had an RBI ground out to drive in the game-winning run. Ruf threw a complete game to earn the win in the circle.

Beck enjoyed the biggest day in Red Mountain's first game. She was 4-for-4, including a second homer in the fourth inning plus a walk. Hill was 3-for-5 batting behind Beck. Fernandez, TJ Beeson, Macha, Kenzy Gutierrez, Alex Wiley and Ruf collected two hits each. Macha scattered nine hits in going the distance for Red Mountain. She recorded 11 strikeouts.

Red Mountain coach Rich Hamilton was somewhat concerned that with 19 hits, his team didn't score a few more runs. The Lady Lions left 13 runners on base, two in each of the first six innings.

"After the first inning it seemed we had runners at first and second with one out or less," Hamilton said. "The hits were there, just not at the right time."

Paradise Valley, which blanked Betty Farifax, 13-0, in an earlier game Thursday, reached the finals of last year''s tourney when it knocked off Red Mountain in the semifinals. Red Mountain let Paradise Valley hang around in that game, but got the outcome it wanted this time despite squandering chances after the first. 

Paradise Valley leadoff hitter Sidney Coy had  productive day. Coy was 3-for-3 vs. Fairfax and 3-for-4 with two bunt singles against Red Mountain. Denali Johnson had two RBI in each game for Paradise Valley and No. 9 hitter Natalie Nilsen had two hits and four RBI vs. Fairfax.

Basha completed its pool play (four games) on Thursday and earned an automatic championship bracket berth (eight team qualify) by going 4-0. Basha topped Horizon, 13-3,, and followed that by staving off Chaparral, 12-11. Basha has scored 51 runs in its four games.

Host Desert Mountain was the only other team with a chance to be unbeaten after three tournament games. The Lady Wolves fell behind Mesquite, 3-0 in the second inning, but rallied behind the relief pitching of Andy Wellins to post an 8-4 victory. Wellins fanned 12 in five-plus innings of relief. Desert Mountain beat Shadow Mountain and Seton in games on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.