Phoenix Horizon lowered the boom on Glendale Mountain Ridge in Tuesday night’s (March 19) opening game of the Desert Mountain Invitational softball tournament at Horizon Park in north Scottsdale.

The Huskies used solo home runs by Chelbie Oden and Kaila Jacobi to help produce a 3-2 victory. Jacobi drove in the team’s third run with a single.

The win gave Horizon an 11-2 record under first-year coach Lindsey Collins while Mountain Ridge slipped to 11-2 under coach Michele Markham.

Mountain Ridge also scored its runs with a power connection as Alyssa DiCarlo hit a two-run shot.

“We have some very big hitters,’’ said Collins, who was head coach at Phoenix North Canyon for seven seasons and Scottsdale Chaparral for one before taking last year off to give birth to a son.

She already knew most of the Horizon players, having coached some of them in summer leagues.

Normally the Huskies’ No. 2 hitter, Oden had not played for about three weeks due to lower-back issues and was in the lineup on Tuesday night after Collins said she had looked good in practice.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep this going,’’ said Collins, whose team faces Tucson Sahuaro in the second day of competition on Wednesday (March 20).

Aside from giving up the home run, Horizon got a solid pitching performance out of Tamara “T’’ Statman, a sophomore.

She gave up four hits and struck out nine, including two in a 1-2-3 seventh.

Statman and Mountain Ridge pitcher Sai Foley were locked in a scoreless duel until the third inning, when Oden led off with her home run, Gabby Moreno reached on an error and scored on a two-out single by Jacobi.

Mountain Ridge tied it in the sixth. Taylor Kaye led off with a bunt single and DiCarlo hit a one-out home run on the first pitch she saw. There was no doubt it was gone.

Jacobi led off the bottom of the sixth with her home run, and the Huskies were back in control.