A little more than halfway there. Still some work to do, though.

Phoenix St. Mary's rode the three-hit pitching effort of Dallas Escobedo and the three-hit performance of No. 9 hitter Ariel Armendariz to a 6-0 victory over Mesa Red Mountain Monday in an elimination game at the 5A-I state softball tournament at Rose Mofford Complex in Phoenix.

"We're starting to peak," St. Mary's coach Bobby Pacheco said. "We had a tough stretch when Dallas was out for three weeks, and now we're starting to come on."

St. Mary's (26-9) advances to Wednesday's semifinals and will meet Chandler Basha at 5 p.m. at Rose Mofford. St. Mary's must defeat Basha twice if it wishes to defend its state title. St. Mary's opened the state tournament with a 1-0 loss to Tucson Salpointe, but has won four straight to continue its quest for the title.

Red Mountain finished with a record of 25-10.

"In a game like this, you have to put the ball in play," Red Mountain coach Rich Hamilton said. "We put the ball in play, what, six or seven times. That's just not enough. You have to put it in play if you're going to score."

Red Mountain stayed close for four innings, battling the Knights to a 0-0 tie. Then, in the top of the fifth, the Knights erupted for three runs with Armendariz, a freshman, driving in the first run with her second hit of the game. Two of Red Mountain's four errors came in the next three at-bats, leading to two more runs and giving the Knights a 3-0 lead.

Red Mountain could not put a threat together after St. Mary's took control, and the Knights then broke it open, scoring three runs with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Escobedo doubled home catcher Molly Smith to make it 4-0, and shortstop Priscilla Silva followed with a two-run homer to right-center field.

Escobedo finished with 14 strikeouts and did not walk a batter.