Mountain Ridge defeated Quartz Hill 6-2 at Mountain Ridge High School on Monday afternoon.

The first two innings started off quiet offensively with both pitchers locked into the matchup.

The first run of the game came in the third inning when senior captain and starting pitcher Aydan Alger hit a home run to straightaway centerfield. 

“Just staying relaxed and staying closed while at the plate, letting the pitch get deep and driving the ball led to my success at the plate,” Alger said.

Four at-bats later, Rebels infielder Isaac Moreno hit an RBI double to give Quartz Hill a 2-0 lead over the Mountain Lions.

Mountain Ridge did not let the two runs faze them and scored two of their own in the bottom of the third inning.

“We knew we could come back, we have been down by more runs.  Just keep swinging, got a few more hits to drop and played our game,” Mountain Ridge senior second baseman Jared Kampf said.

The Mountain Lions continued to score with two runs in the fourth inning and two in the fifth.

The Rebels were held scoreless after their two-run third inning, as Mountain Ridge starting pitcher Mason Piert continued to hit his spots in the strike zone.

“I just dialed in, I told myself that it wasn’t going happen again, they were not going to get another run off of me,” Piert said.

Rebels head coach Aaron Kavanagh emphasized the difference in hitting after the third inning.

“They hit the ball well, they hit the ball hard and we could not do the same.  They outhit us and they played a good, sound game,” Kavanagh said.

The Mountain Lions' win was largely from the performance on the mound by Piert.

 “Just all the work and preparation leading up to this start, working with my pitching coach John Huizinga and it paid off,” Piert said.

Piert went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

“Mason is coming along really well, his stuff is down in the zone, he’s got a good sink on his fastball which causes a lot of ground balls.  That is what we want as a staff, to get a lot of ground balls.  He is throwing really well right now,” Mountain Ridge head coach Artie Cox said.

 

Cox pointed out two main parts of the game that led to the Mountain Lions win.

 

“Good pitching and good defense, we got really aggressive at the plate in the later innings and I think that helped us get to their pitcher early in counts instead of taking pitches.  We made really good plays to stop the momentum,” Cox said.

 

This was the start of the Coach Bob National Invitational for both teams. The invitational brings in over 45 schools with Mountain Ridge High School being one of the hosts for the tournament.

 

“It’s a huge honor to host the tournament at our school, you get to see some great competition and showcase great talent from Arizona and other states,” Piert said.