Mountain View took advantage of ragged Marcos de Niza defense and rode the strong two-hit pitching of Te Keisha Pittman to a 3-1 victory Wednesday over the Padres in the championship game of the Marcos de Niza-McClintock Softball Tournament at McClintock High School.
It was the second year in a row Mountain View has won the tournament. The Toros beat Gilbert in last years’ final.
Pittman, a junior who pitched for the junior varsity last season, has emerged as the Toros’ ace this season. She was the winning pitcher in four of the Toros’ five tournament games. She blanked Highland on Monday, Corona on Tuesday and the lone run she allowed in the title game came in the seventh inning and was unearned.
‘‘She had trouble throwing strikes last year, but really has improved,’’ Mountain View coach Dale Goodman said.
Pittman (8-1) walked two and struck out two. The Toros’ defense was solid behind Pittman, who induced 12 ground outs. Two of those outs came on assists from right fielder Kayla Campbell.
Mountain View (10-6), which has won six games in a row, scored the first run in the third inning without the benefit of a hit. Marcos de Niza committed the first two of its five errors in that inning.
Losehina Falevai reached base on the first error and scored on a dropped fly ball off the bat of Tiffany Panessa. Two innings later, Panessa added the biggest hit of the game — a two-run single that gave the Toros a cushion. Panessa and Falevai had two hits apiece.
Mountain View has just one healthy senior on its roster, No. 3 hitter Lindsay Dyer. Dyer entered the tournament struggling at the plate with a .143 average. She blasted four extra-base hits in the tournament to give the middle of the order a boost. Dyer had a long double on Wednesday.
Marcos de Niza fell to 11-4 with the loss, but like Mountain View heads to the final days of spring break on a positive note. The Padres reached the final of the Marcos de Niza-Dobson Tournament that opened the season in February. The Padres lost that championship game to Chandler, which is 12-3 and has the week off.
‘‘We’ve played in two tournaments and been in the championship of both,’’ Marcos de Niza coach Ron Cosner said. ‘‘This is a fun group of kids. Very enjoyable to work with. We have seven seniors, and they’ve given us good leadership.’’
