The double-elimination phase of the 5A Conference playoffs begins in the second round so it makes for a tense “do or die” situation in the opening round and that’s what we had when No. 10 Cienega beat No. 7 Mountain View 5-4 on the road Saturday with each team thinking they had the game won, only to see victory slip away, until it came back to the Bobcats in the seventh.

Down 1-0 through four innings on an unearned run scored in the bottom half of the third, Cienega scored three runs with two outs to take a 3-1 lead. An RBI double from Sophia Butt scored Sicily Waller and then Butt scored from second base on a wild pitch on a dropped third strike issued to Micaela Valenzuela. Isabel Mendoza came up next and doubled Valenzuela in for the 3-1 lead.

That score held up until Arianna Figueroa singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth with two outs. Two run came in on the hit but another run came in after the hit was misplayed to give Mountain View a 4-3 lead heading to the seventh.

Allison Mullen drew a leadoff walk for Cienega, where she stole second and then reached third base on an error resulting from the stolen base. Mullen was stranded at third after an infield out and then Valenzuela was intentionally walked. Mendoza scored Mullen on a sacrifice fly to tie the game up 4-4 and then Kay Morel doubled in Valenzuela for the 5-4 lead. Cienega pitcher Maya Fimbres closed the door on the Mountain Lions in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the victory.

Cienega (24-7) will now travel to play at No. 2 Canyon View (25-4) in the second round scheduled for Tuesday, May 6 at 4 p.m. The winner advances to the third round (May 10) and the loser will drop down to the Elimination Bracket to be played on May 8. Canyon View beat No. 15 Chaparral 8-2 in the first round. Mountain View finished 20-8 on the year.

For Cienega, Fimbres (10-5) picked up four strikeouts and she gave up two earned runs. Butt went 2-4 with a double and an RBI, Mullen, Mendoza and Morel each had doubles. Figueroa (11-5) had 11 strikeouts in the loss and she had two RBIs at the plate and Alycia Gordin went 2-4.

Arianna Figueroa. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)