(Marana, AZ) An early season matchup between two traditional powerhouse teams as Mountain View (5-1) hosted Ironwood Ridge (4-2) in the Mountain Lions home opener.
Both Squads started their 2025 seasons up in the Valley of the Sun last week and both schools did very well against the talent from Central Arizona.
Today’s matchup was all about one of the best rivalries in Southern Arizona and who could get off on the right foot back in Pima County in their quests for a State Championship.
Ironwood Ridge Skipper Dave Martinez who’s no stranger to success and Mountain View’s Manager Ramon De La Ossa who’s a master of developing star players. MVHS alumni are part of a sensational Pima College Aztec team this season.
On top of the exceptional talent on both teams, there’s the rivalry factor too. Ironwood Ridge from the Amphitheater School District and Mountain View from the Marana School District are very familiar with each other not only from AIA games but Club Ball as well.
Mountain View welcomed back Arianna Figueroa from an injury and it didn’t take long for her to make her presence felt, with two strikeouts to start the game in the top of the first inning.
Ironwood Ridge showed some stout defense in the bottom of the inning after initially walking the leadoff batter, turned a 6-4-3 double play.
The Mountain Lions drew first blood in the bottom of the second inning. The leadoff hitter again drew a walk and promptly stole second base. A single to center field was overrun by the Nighthawks for a two base error and an RBI. Another walk and an error on the second baseman added the second run. After a sacrifice to advance both runners, a double to center field tacked on two more runs and the Mountain Lions had themselves an early 4-0 lead.
Ironwood Ridge tried to answer back as their first batter was struck by pitch and sacrificed to second base. She was stranded there after a fly out to left field and a strikeout looking ended the top of the third inning.
A one out double over the centerfielder’s head and back to back walks loaded the bases for Mountain View. That’s when Nighthawk Manager Martinez took pitcher Teah Valencia out. The strategy worked out as the next two Mountain Lions hitters struck out to end the inning leaving the bases juiced.
Neither team had success in the fourth inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, Figueroa struck out the side and that set the table for the Mountain View offense in the bottom half of the inning.
Again the leadoff batter got aboard with a single to left field. A passed ball moved the runner into scoring position at second base. After a strikeout, a single to right field brought home the fifth run of the game and 5-0 lead.
Ironwood Ridge feeling a sense of urgency with only six outs left, got a single to left field, a hit batsman and a strange play where there was a communication issue on the Mountain Lion infield defense loaded the bases. Up to that point, Figueroa was sailing along and it appeared the five runs would be enough, but not in this rivalry. The next batter shot one up the middle bringing in the Nighthawks first two runs. An infield single reloaded the bases. A sacrifice fly to right field brought another run home. The following batter hit one to left field which was misplayed scoring one more run and cutting the lead to 5-4.
Each team with a big inning showed why this rivalry is so intense as the shutout went by the wasteside.
Now with a one run lead, Mountain View continued to get their lead off hitters on. An error in right field and a sacrifice bunt to move up the runner gave the Mountain Lions an opportunity to scratch out an insurance run. A blast to the right center power alley scored the sixth run. After a strikeout, Martinez decided to intentionally walk the next batter to load the bases setting up a force at any base. The inning ended on a line drive out to right field.
The Nighthawks had one more chance to pull the rabbit out of the hat in the top of the seventh inning but two fly balls and a groundout to the shortstop ended their dreams in this contest.
Final Score 6-4 giving Mountain View the win in their home opener.
This type of game is commonplace for this fierce rivalry and these two teams should be in the thick of things come playoff time.
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