Falcon always aims to start its games on a “good note” and build momentum early.

The Falcons composed a classic Thursday afternoon at Mesa Ridge and made their opening act the star of the show.

Falcon defeated Mesa Ridge 11-5 and scored eight in the first inning to sweep the Grizzlies after a victory at home Tuesday. The Falcons’ 6-0 start is their best since at least 2009, which is as far back as Falcon’s MaxPreps data shows.

“We don’t want to start off our game on a bad note,” Falcon’s Cheyenne Cahoon said. “We wanted to get runners on and put pressure on them. I wanted to set the tone.”

Falcon, which ranks No. 1 in 4A, opened the contest with a single from Lyla Almeida. Down to the final strike of her at-bat, Cahoon connected and sent the ball over the fence for her second home run of the year and gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead.

“I started with a ball and a strike looking and I knew that I wanted to see the ball in,” Cahoon said. “I waited for the right moment and got a homer.”

Falcon’s next run came on its only triple, courtesy of DannaPaola Martinez. The Falcons junior made it 3-0 when Martinez’s hit gave Maddison Stovall a path to reach home plate and secure another score.

Martinez, who transferred from Mesa Ridge, led the Falcons with three hits and was one of two Falcon batters with two RBIs. Martinez also led the Falcons in Tuesday’s showdown with the Grizzlies when she had a pair of hits and three RBIs.

Although Martinez appeared stellar in both matchups, she said these contests “were pretty difficult” because of the connection with her former Grizzly teammates.

“I had some nerves going into this game because I knew everybody and everybody knew me. It felt different going in this with a different team and a different dugout,” Martinez said. “But I couldn’t let that stop me. I still had to play my game for my new team and I had to pick it up for them. At the end of the day, we won and I proved a point.”

After Falcon built its 8-0 lead, it grew to 10-0 in the top of the fourth, but the Falcons walked Kiana Steinhoff with the bases loaded, which scored Aailyah Gibson to make it 10-1 and save Mesa Ridge from the 10-0 run rule.

However, the Grizzlies left the bases loaded to end the inning to keep Falcon’s lead at 10-1. The Grizzlies outscored the Falcons 4-1 the remainder of the game, and Mesa Ridge’s Reagan Fabrizi hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.

But the Falcons staved off any comeback by the Grizzlies and held their sixth consecutive opponent to less than 10 runs. Falcon heads to Lamar on Friday for a four-game tournament. Players and coaches don’t expect their heater to end this weekend.

“We just have to keep our defense clean and keep our bats going,” Cahoon said. “If we have high energy, we’ll be able to beat anybody and hopefully go undefeated this weekend.”