Offensively, it's as easy as 1-2-3 for Red Mountain's softball team.

One-two-three referring to the first three hitters in coach Rich Hamilton's lineup --seniors Haley Culley, Payton Kornfeind and Siera Phillips.

The damage the left-handed hitting trio inflicts routinely is overwhelming. It can come in any form for the second-seeded Mountain Lions, who are 30-3 this season and have scored 344 runs. Last year's title team scored 389 runs in 39 games. They open their defense of the 2010 and 2011 titles on Tuesday at home against No. 15 seed Mesa Mountain View.

"The question for us at the beginning of the year was our offense after losing five starters," Hamilton said. "We had capable kids, and they've come through. The great thing with our first three hitters is we can bunt all of them in a row, which we've done. And we can have them hit away."

The pressure begins with Culley, a four-year starter. She played second base her freshman year and shortstop the last three. Should Red Mountain reach the championship game in two weeks it will make it four in four years for Culley. She played on the 2009 runner-up team and on the 2010 and 2011 title teams.

"That's the goal to get to the championship and win it again," Culley said. "Basically my role is to be a team leader. On the field I need to get on base and get us going.  I've tried to be consistent."

Culley, who will take her game to the University of Mississippi this fall, is hitting .471 for the second year in a row. She finished  2010 at .463. As a freshman in 2009 she topped the .400 mark . She gets on base at an extraordinary rate and does have extra-base hit power.

The added lift  Hamilton's lineup has received has come with Kornfeind. Hitting in the latter part of the order as a part-time starter last year she hit .407, which will always do. As an everyday player this season her .550 average is tops on the team from the two-hole and one of the best in the state at the big-school division.

"She's had an amazing year," Hamilton said. "She bunts a lot to get hits or to move runners and she hits and runs with Culley on. She's such a good bunter. It doesn't matter if the defense plays right in her face. She can still bunt for a hit with her ability and speed."

Kornfeind is headed to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in the fall. She's looked forward to a fulltime role and her new spot in the order.

"The plan from the start was for me to hit second," Kornfeind said. "I love hitting in that spot. Haley is on base a lot .That gives me better opportunities. I feel I have to at least move her up."

A bunter and slapper primarily, Kornfeind has just four extra-base hits among her 55 for the season. Her one home run was a big one -- an opposite-field, two-run blast to help beat Mountain View, 4-1, back in early March.

Culley and Kornfeind put such pressure on defenses with their speed that it doesn't take more than a couple innings for opposing pitchers to be spent mentally. With Red Mountain's pitching, the Mountain Lions often don't need many runs to prevail.

"I can't tell you how many times these kids get on base and we score runs in the first inning," Hamilton said. "It's nice to know you can score and score early in a game."

The first crack at an RBI in a game usually falls to No. 3 hitter Phillips. She's batting a cool .451 with 38 RBIs. The 38 RBIs don't lead the team, but it's third behind the Mountain Lions 4-5 hitters.

"I've loved moving up in the lineup," Phillips, who usually hit fifth last year, said. "The way Haley and Payton have hit all year at least one or both is on base when I get up."

Phillips, who will play softball at Dixie State this fall, often has other things on her mind as she's pitched about 40 percent of Red Mountain's games in 2012. Her pitching chores haven't  detracted from her hitting. In the 14 games she's pitched (an 11-0 record) her average is .431.

"Payton's been the most consistent of the three for the season," Hamilton said. "Haley and Siera have picked it up the last few weeks to get to where they are. It's going to be tougher to score runs from here on out, but we like what they've done at the top of our lineup this season."