A characteristic of a standout pitcher isn't always the earned-run average, strikeout total or the win total. Finding that little extra when it's needed most is a key element.

Both Mesa Mountain View's Val Kaff and Sunnyside's Lexi Reyes had that little extra Tuesday and showed it. But at some point it had to end.

Their battle finally concluded two hours, 40 minutes and 10 innings after it started with Kaff looping a scoring fly to short center for a 2-1 victory for No. 5 seed Mountain View over No. 12 Sunnyside in a Division I round-of-16 elimination game at Mountain View.

Mountain View (25-6) advances to the elite eight and double-elimination portion of the tournament  that begins Wednesday May 1 at Rose Mofford. The Lady Toros take on No. 20 seed Desert Vista, which beat its second higher-seeded opponent, Gilbert, 7-3, to advance. Game time is Wednesday May 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Rose Mofford Softball Complex in Phoenix. Sunnyside finished the season 23-10.

Mountain View never trailed, getting a gift run in the first on a three-base error and passed ball to go on top 1-0. Sunnyside tied it in the fourth and from the point on it was the wills of the  pitchers that prevailed and impressed.

Other than the pitchers, the player of the game was Mountain View center fielder Brittany Lindblom. Lindblom opened the bottom of the 10th with a double to deep cente off Reyes (15-2), her third hit of the game. Page Roberts followed with a bunt intended to advance Lindblom to third. It was better than that. Roberts reached first without a play and the Lady Toros had runners at the corners with no outs.

That brought up Mountain View's top hitter, Sid Ryan. Ryan had four hits, including a homer in the win over Sunnyside last week. Sunnyside opted to pitch to Ryan and she pounded a roller between first and home that Reyes pocketed to load the bases after she looked Lindblom back to third.

Next up was Kaff, who was hitless in four at-bats to that point. Kaff sent a soft pop-up to short center on an 0-2 pitch that was caught by a diving Kalynn Martinez. Lindblom tagged up an scored well ahead of the throw.

"Both pitchers were outstanding," Mountain View coach Joe Goodman said. "We didn't see (Reyes) last week when we played them. She was tough. Did a great job changing speeds. I have a lot of respect for them and their program. It was a great game."

Kaff, who her 25th game against five losses, bested Sunnyside a week ago in Tucson, 5-0, with a two-hit, 17 strikeout shutout. Sunnyside coach Pete Palomarez said his team worked harder the past few days on hitting outside pitches in an effort to slow down Kaff, who thoroughly dominated them the prior outing.

Sunnyside collected six hits and made Kaff work much harder to get outs. Kaff finishes with 16 Ks and walked one. The only run she allowed was in the fourth when the Lady Blue Devils picked up two hits - singles by Rebecca Rodriguez and Serena Hernandez. Hernandez's single scored Rodriguez, who finished with three of Sunnyside's six hits.

The only other inning Sunnyside managed two hits was the sixth when Kaff got defensive help from Lindblom, who threw out Alexis Ayala at home on a single by Brianna Garcia to cut down the go-ahead run. Along with that play were a couple nice snares of liners in right field -- the sun field at Mountain View -- by freshman Maria Serrano.

Kaff and Reyes were feeling their work load late in the game. Kaff's strikeout rate waned from the sixth through the eighth when she recorded just one K. Both pitchers pitched out of ninth-inning jams that might have felled others. Kaff bailed herself out a of first-and-second, noone out jam in the ninth by fanning the next three batters. Reyes did the same in the bottom half, striking out the final two hitters with runners at first and second.

"Both pitchers were great," Palomerez said. "I thought Lexi matched her today. She did her job. We missed a couple opportunities to get runs. We did a better job against (Kaff) this time, but she's still very tough. ...

"It came down to execution. We didn't get a couple bunts down and they did. That was the key to the game."