Pat Herrera would like to win the championship of the Highland Triple Play Classic. But it is not priority No. 1.

The Jaguars played for the title of the spring break tournament in Gilbert for the fifth year in a row and emerged on the short end for the fifth time in a 12-8 decision to defending Texas state parochial  school champ John Paul II (Corpus Christi) at Highland High School.

"This game was similar to last year," Herrera, who has guided the Jaguars to 5A titles each of the last two years, said. "It's tied 8-8 in the middle of the game, and they pull it out at the end. For us this tournament is not about winning or losing. It's a proving ground before we get into region play (next week). And this year isn't like the last few years. We have two starters back and one was a freshman. We're just trying to get better."

Desert Ridge (9-6) showed its mettle several times in the game. The Jaguars fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first, were down 6-1 in the third and and tied the game with five runs in the bottom of the third.

John Paul II regained the lead in the top of the fourth, 8-6, but back came Desert Ridge to even things at 8 after five innings. John Paul II scored four runs in the final two innings with the benefit of just two hits. The Centurions capitalized on six walks and a hit batter to score the deciding runs. Desert Ridge used  six pitchers in the game -- three in the final 1 2/3 innings.

The standout of the evening for John Paul II was infielder Jose Trevino. Trevino belted a three-run homer in the first inning, later singled and scored three times. Trevino's homer was his fifth of the tournament adn 19th of the season in 25 games for John Paul. He has a whopping 65 RBIs.

As he did last season in the tourney title game against Desert Ridge, Trevino came on in relief to earn the victory. Last year he gave up no runs in five innings -- this year two in four innings. Trevino allowed four hits, walked one and struck out eight.

Riley Unroe, Justin Donovan and Xavier Sotelo had two hits apiece for Desert Ridge. Alonzo Palacios drove in three runs and Taylor Flores had two RBIs for the Jaguars.