Ashley Stevens is a Master’s student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Mountain Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com

GLENDALE– The Mountain Ridge bats rose from their slumber in an 11-6 win over (8-8) Boulder Creek on Tuesday, defeating the Jaguars in seven innings after going into extras in their previous matchup in which the Mountain Lions squeezed out a 2-1 win. Mountain Ridge improved to 12-3 on the season and hold the top spot in the 6A Desert Valley region.

Mountain Ridge senior Shaun Cottrell entered the game in relief in the second inning with no outs,  bases loaded and three runners already plated. The lefthander struck out the side. The Regis University commit struck out three more in the third and handed the ball off to Cooper Neville in the top of the sixth, dealing 11 strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.

 “Basically, I came in with the mentality that I can’t let a run across the plate," Cottrell said. “Obviously, there's a lot of pressure coming into that. But again, all I need to do is throw a ball. So I just try to simplify it and go in there and throw strikes.”

After leaving two runners on base and failing to score in the second inning, Mountain Ridge finally hit their sweet spot in the third inning with back-to-back singles off the bats of Cannon Peery and Josh Wakefield. Cooper Neville earned his walk to follow Peery and Wakefield. 

With the bases loaded, senior outfielder Ameer McGee brought them home on a blooper to right field that the wind kept in fair territory. Although not credited for all three runs that crossed home plate, the luck of the wind was just enough to spark the offensive awakening further. 

Mountain Ridge plated four runs in the third inning, tying the game entering the fourth at five runs a piece. The offense plated three more in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth, including a two-run shot over the right-field fence from the bat of Neville, who came in and closed the game to secure the victory.

Cooper Neville taking a sign from head coach Eddie Bonine in the fourth inning. Neville hit an RBI single in his at-bat, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk, two runs scored, and three RBIs. The difference in the ballgame came down to timely hitting and Mountain Ridge sticking with their simplistic approach.

“Our last game against Boulder, we were barreling balls and they weren’t falling, but we all came in aggressive and ready to hit,” Cottrell said.

Senior Josh Wakefield tallied the most hits on the day, going 3-for-4 at the plate, with two RBIs and two runs scored. Coach Eddie Bonine had been working with the team on their approach to the plate after hitting somewhat of an offensive skid in the bottom half of the season. 

“Just competing, treating every at bat like it's the last last pitch of the game and just getting after it right from the start,” Wakefield said of Bonine’s message to the team. “I just kept the same approach, trying to stay up the middle as a five-hole and get on base. You gotta simplify everything, can’t get in your head.”

With a state title on their minds, the Mountain Ridge coaching staff has been prioritizing the clean at-bats and learning from the little things.

“It was just a shift of feeling too down or too good about where they're at,” Bonine explained. “Just getting the focus back to team at bats, grinding through wins, and taking care of each other. We're blessed to have the opportunity to come out here and play baseball, enjoy the kids game that we play and enjoy each other because these moments are gonna go a lot further than they know.”

The Mountain Lions have three more games left in the regular season, with their next matchup coming up against the Perry Pumas (9-6) on Wednesday at home in Glendale before facing Chaparral for their last series of the regular season.