All Kayla Berg needed was a self-reminder Friday, a quick look at the scoreboard to understand that more than six innings were still to be played.

That calmed the Mountain View senior. She was banking on her team’s offense eventually coming through, which it did with a run in the bottom of the third inning and four more in the fifth. And for her part, Berg put the clamps on Summit.

After allowing four runs on four hits before even recording a second out in the top of the first inning, Berg struck out seven and held the Storm to just four hits over the final 62⁄3 innings as the Cougars rallied for a 5-4 Intermountain Conference softball win.

It was Mountain View’s fourth victory over Summit in as many games — all this week.

“I do better under pressure, I want to say,” said Berg, who ended the sixth and seventh innings with strikeouts to strand Summit runners, potential game-tying runs, on second base. “So when I have the pressure of people being on base or us being down, I’m able to zone in more.”

The Storm certainly put the pressure on Berg in the opening frame, as Hailey Nelson’s leadoff single set off Summit’s offense. Following a walk to Amanda Mellor, the Storm’s Tiana Waller belted an RBI double to put the visitors on the board. Molly Wasserman then smacked a two-run double down the left-field line, and two batters later, Gianna Viola sent a run-scoring double to right field to give Summit a 4-0 advantage.

“We came out in the top of the first and were just focused,” said Storm coach Mike Carpenter. “Hailey has been our trendsetter all year long. She got us going, gets a stolen base and after that, it was contagious. It was huge for us to get off on the right foot. We like batting first, most of the time, because our top four hitters, I’ll put those four against anybody in our league.”

“I knew they were going to hit,” said Berg, who pitched against the Storm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. “They’ve seen me three times already. I had to be ready for that coming into the game. But I knew we could it, too, and we’ve proved it, so I had confidence something would change.”

Summit had an opportunity to add a run in the top of the third inning as Wasserman attempted to tag up from third base, but Mountain View center fielder Madison Newman cut the runner down with a strike to the plate that ended the inning and kept the Storm lead at 4-0.

In the home half of the inning, Emily Antoni led off with an infield single and stole second base on the next pitch. Skylar Garcia then sent an RBI single to left field to give Mountain View its first run of the game.

Two innings later, following consecutive singles by Kennedy McConkey and Antoni and an intentional walk to Berg to load the bases with one out, Alina Demeyer poked a single through the right side of the infield. Two runs came across, and a Summit throwing error on the play allowed the tying run to score and for Demeyer to advance to third. Another Storm error on the next play then allowed Demeyer to score, putting the Cougars on top 5-4.

“Strange things tend to happen,” Carpenter said. “When you’ve had this happen to a team multiple times during the year — we’re right there on the edge and something just tips it the other way — it’s tough to keep coming back from that. But our senior leadership has been outstanding. They’re keeping our kids’ heads in the game and focused.”

Summit threatened in each of the next two innings, advancing runners to second base each time, but Berg closed out the complete game to extend Mountain View’s win streak to four games.

Nelson also recorded a complete game and was 2-for-4 at the plate for the Storm (2-11 IMC, 2-16 overall), who dropped their eighth straight against Mountain View dating back to last season. Wasserman and Viola each went 2-for-3 for Summit.

With the victory and Bend High’s 16-6 loss to Redmond, the Cougars (5-5, 6-9) took sole possession of third place in the IMC and remain one game back of Redmond for second place with six games left in the regular season.

“This was huge for us. We had two weeks of playing really solid teams,” said Mountain View coach Kate Hunter, recalling her team’s recent games against Hood River Valley, The Dalles, West Albany and Ridgeview. “We feel that they prepared us to be better. Playing tough competition at the beginning of the season and in the middle of the season has prepared us to be stronger at the end. That’s what we’re doing right now. We want to peak at the end (of the season), not at the beginning.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, glucas@bendbulletin.com