Good pitching and the ability to win close games were reasons Perry and St. Mary's reached the championship game of the Highland Triple Play Classic.

And it was Perry's response to a late St. Mary's rally Thursday night that turned the tide in this one as the Pumas edged St. Mary's, 5-4, at Highland High School.

Perry (12-2 overall) finished 5-0 in the tournamen tand handed St. Mary's its first lossafter 13 straight victories. Perry left fielder Nick Jenkins ripped an 0-2 ptich for a two-run single that capped a three-run fifth for the Pumas and supplied them with the winning margin. St. Mary's, which trailed 2-0 after four innings, pieced together a four-run rally in the top of the inning to secure a 4-2 advantage. Perry's winning rally came the hard way -- with two outs and noone on. it was a scenario that's a plus when playing in the invitationals that coaches love to see.

"Wins aren't necessarily the biggest  thing in these," Perry coach Shane Hilstrom said. "You want to see your kids play well. Our defense was good, and so was our pitching this week. It was nice to see us come back right away after they went ahead."

Perry's game-winning rally started with two out and the bases empty on a single to left-center by leadoff hitter Austin Bull. It also ended the evening for St. Mary's starter Eduardo Ramos, who save a three-hit, two-run third inning, had regained the momentum he had the first couple frames.

"Other than that one inning (Ramos) had controlled us," Hilstrom said. "They made a change, and we kept the rally going."

Jeremy McCuin reeted reliever Oliver Henninger with a double to score Bull to make it 4-3. Henninger walked the next two batters to load the bases. Jenkins followed with his solid game-winner to leftTyler Kerpan pickedd up the win for Perry with two innings of relief and Joey Bostaph notched the save getting three ground outs on just seven pitches in the seventh.

Bull finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He also made a diving catch of a liner to end the sixth that could have started a rally for the Knights. No. 2 hitter McCuin had two hits and two RBI. Irvin Ruiz, Henninger and Luis Leyva knocked in runs for St.Mary's.

In consolation games Thursday at the Triple Play Classic, Highland defeated Apache Junction, 21-5 and followed up with an 11-1 victory over Westwood. Dobson beat Mesa by a run for the second day in a row, 4-3.

MESQUITE-GILBERT INVITATIONAL

Gilbert High erupted for seven runs in the third inning on Thursday, paving the way for the Tigers to defeat Mesa Mountain View, 11-1, in six innings on the final day of the Mesquite-Gilbert Invitational at Gilbert High.

Gilbert finished 5-0 in the tournament, one of two unbeaten teams. Dustin Peterson's two-run triple began the seven-run uprising and Manny Tapia's two-run double ended it. Tapia had two hits in the inning. Zach Rehmer added a two-run homer for the Tigers and Josh Moore had a solo homer in the sixth.Tanner Herdt  threw four shutout innings, allowin three hits and striking out six.

Mesquite's Matt Waldren homered and singled to drive in two runs and Cole Valletta and Matt Heibult plated runs with extra-base hits as Mesquite beat Red Mountain, 6-3, to finish 4-1 in the tournament. Nick Daley got the win with 5 innings of work for the Wildcats.

In other games played on Thursday, Basha improved to 4-0 in the tournament with an 8-3 win over Skyline in a morning contest at Gilbert High and Westview won its first game of the tourney, edging McClintock, 3-1. In late games  Desert Vista edged Basha, 3-2 and Queen Creek defeated Skyline, 15-3.