Sandra Day O'Connor was short on hits Wednesday night so the Lady Eagles were more than happy to allow Mountain Pointe's defense to supply their needed offense.

No. 2 seed O'Connor capitalized on three early errors by No. 12 Mountain Pointe to score all four of its runs and post a 4-2 victory over the Pride in a Division I softball elimination game at Rose Mofford Sports Complex. O'Connor takes on Desert Vista Thursday (May 14) at 6:30 at Rose Mofford in another elimination game. Desert Vista blanked Pinnacle, 3-0, to knock the Pioneers from the tournament. O'Connor and Desert Vista both lost their first game in the double-elimination portion of the tourney and have won back-to-back games to keep their title hopes alive.

O'Connor (31-7) never trailed and grabbed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on just one hit. A bases-loaded throwing error sent all three runners home with two outs to give starting pitcher Emma Vesely an early cushion. Grace Lyons, Stevie McLemore and Gavyn Gerardin scored on the errant toss. O'Connor tacked on its final run in the bottom of the third. Kelsey Banales, who singled to open the inning off Mountain Pointe pitcher Kristen McCann, scored on a two-out error by the shortstop.

Mountain Pointe (23-14) scored its runs in the top of the third, collecting three of its four hits. The Pride got RBI singles by Hannah Hoban and Ilyiana Vacaneri. McLemore came on in relief of Vesely and pitched the final four innings. She allowed no hits and one base runner (via error) in the seventh to help O'Connor stay alive in the loser's bracket.

No. 8 Desert Vista 3, No. 7 Pinnacle 0: Junior Brooke Hughes tossed a two-hitter and struck out six and freshman Rion Simms snapped a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the top of the sixth to keep the Thunder alive in the tournament.

The other game in the D-I tournament on Thursday (May 14) at Rose Mofford matches the tournament's only unbeaten teams -- No. 1 Mountain Ridge and No. 3 Xavier Prep. Xavier has rallied in its final at-bat to win in both its played thus far. The Gators scored twice in the seventh to beat Horizon and tallied three times in the seventh to edge Pinnacle. Mountain Ridge defeated Xavier in their only meeting this season on April 27, 3-0.