Red Mountain's 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning had vanished. And it looked like Sunnyside, now with a 5-3 advantage, was on its way to an enormous inning and a crushing momentum blow.

Fortunately, for Rich Hamilton's Lady Lions, the Bri's-- Bre Macha and Bri Gonzales -- had other ideas.

Macha pitched out of a second-and-third, no-out jam by recording three consecutive strikeouts and Gonzales slapped a go-ahead two-run single allowing Red Mountain to post a 9-5 win over pesky Sunnyside in the Desert Mountain Wolves Softball Invitational at Horizon Park.

"We've been in that situation a couple of times already this season," Hamilton said. "Bre got us out of the inning. From there we regrouped on defense and were ready to play. Our mindset got better after that."

Sunnyside, which won its first game of the tournament earlier in the day 5-1 over Chaparral, felt the wrath of Red Mountain in the bottom of the inning. A bunt single by speedy Payton Kornfeind followed by a hit by Siera Phillips and walk to Jordan Beck filled the bases. Macha pulled Red Mountain within 5-4 with a sacrifice fly. After the second out of the inning, Gonzales, who was hitless to that point, laced a two-run single to center giving the Mountain Lions the lead for good, 6-5.

"That was the hit of the day," Hamilton said. "Bri (Gonzales) needed that and so did we."

Macha, who had nine strikeouts after fanning the final three in the fifth, allowed just one  hit and one walk the final two innings. She picked up a clump of insurance runs in the sixth, two on a towering home run to center by Beck. Beck was 3-for-3 with 3  RBI. Kornfeind also had three hits, scored three times and drove in the other run in the sixth prior to Beck's homer.

Macha helped herself with two hits and two RBI. Every Red Mountain starter had a hit, scored a run or drove in a run.

Sunnyside generated most of its offense at the top of its lineup. Leadoff hitter Monique Marquez had three hits and drove in two runs and No. 2 hitter Adrianna Rosthenhausler scored twice and had two hits. Losing pitcher Alexis Ayala drove in two runs from the cleanup spot with a ground-rule double in the fifth.