Before we take a look at the Division I softball state tournament matchups on Thursday  night – and there are a couple doozies – best of luck to Valley Christian, Scottsdale Christian and Tempe Prep as those schools begin the Division IV state tournament journey on Wednesday afternoon.
Unfortunately it’s single elimination format and the brackets don’t yield favorable matchups (especially in Friday’s possible second round), but nothing spells unpredictability like smaller-school state tournaments.  Good luck.
Farewell to Division II, as the three East Valley representatives Saguaro, Queen Creek and Notre Dame …

Division IV softball state tournament outlook
When: Wednesday through May 12
Where:  Rose Mofford Softball Complex (9833 N. 25th Ave., Phoenix)
Format:  Single elimination; Top eight seeds receive first-round bye; Second round is May 4 at 4 p.m. or 6 p.m.; Quarterfinals are May 5 at 9 a.m.; Semifinals are May 11 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Championship is May 12 at 6 p.m.
First round schedule:  No. 17 Tempe Prep vs. No. 16 Tanque Verde; No. 24 Salt River vs. No. 9 St. Augustine; No. 21 Seligman vs. No. …

Round one is in the books, a Saturday filled with some drama, blowouts and a few surprises (congrats to Chandler and Desert Vista) sets up a few interesting matchups on Tuesday.
This is the last “elimination” round of the tournament, which means the winners on Tuesday advance to the final eight in Division I or Division II and will have a double-elimination format the rest of the way (until obviously the championship games).
All games at 4 p.m.:
Division I
No. 16 Perry at No. 1 Basha:  The Pumas have won 10 consecutive games …

As the “second season” begins on Saturday around the state, a few bits of randomness about these brackets.
–For the most part (and it’ll never be exact) the seedings at the top of Division I are pretty spot-on. Or, at least, there are good arguments to be made that Basha (No. 1), Red Mountain (No. 2), Xavier (No. 3), Gilbert (No. 4) and Horizon (No. 6) are worthy of their spots. Xavier might be the biggest question mark of those given the Gators’ late-season slide after dropping three of their last …

The tweaks made in the power point system has helped the cause, but if the Calpreps system isn’t going to be adopted in some fashion, the next big step towards accuracy and better competitive equity should be a change in the scheduling system.
(Disclaimer: I have no first-hand knowledge that changes are destined to happen, other than it’s going to be explored and discussed for the next two-year scheduling block starting in 2013-2014).
With travel costs cited as the impetus behind these moves — viewed as both understandable by some schools and …

This is it:  The last of the regular season matchups. All teams vying for playoff positions, “bubble teams” trying to get into the top-24, and jostling for one of those top 8 seeds (especially in Div. I and Div. II) have until Wednesday evening to determine whether summer vacation begins early.
The top 4 teams in each Section (based on power points) are automatic entrants, with the remaining 12 spots based solely on power points.
We’ll update the state tournament brackets as soon as they’re posted late this week.
Let’s get to it.
(All …

Here is the Tempe All-City softball team for 2012, as voted on by the Tempe Union District schools’ coaches:
Pitcher:  Dani Block (Desert Vista).
Catcher:  Mallory Schneid (Marcos de Niza).
IF:  Paige Vallejos (Corona del Sol), Ciara Gonzales (Mountain Pointe), Stephanie Montanez (Marcos de Niza), Loni Redmond (Corona del Sol).
OF:  Desi Contreras (Tempe), Abby Speil (Corona del Sol), Rebecca Perez (Desert Vista)
UTIL:  Dynasty Lauvai (McClintock), Alli Cerminara (Desert Vista).

Red Mountain softball pitcher/outfielder Bre Macha was chosen as this week’s West Region Player of the Week by ESPNHS, the high school affiliation of the website.
Macha has committed to Arizona State while currently leading the Lions toward the Div. I state tournament with hopes of repeating as state champions.
As of Thursday, she’s hitting .440 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI this season. She’s also 11-2 with a 1.24 earned run average and 111 strikeouts in 90 innings on the mound.

Rancho Solano Prep hired Brian Smith as its new boys basketball coach on Wednesday.
Smith, son of former University of Kentucky and current University of Minnesota basketball coach Tubby Smith, comes from Windermere Prep School in Florida, where he served as assistant athletic director and assistant basketball coach since August 2009.  Prior to that, Brian was the junior varsity coach at Southwest High School in Minneapolis.
In addition to his new role as basketball coach, Brian Smith will serve as an assistant athletic director and physical education teacher at Rancho Solano, which …

The power point formulas have been tweaked, and while the practicality side of the schedules remain in flux (and a bit skewed in terms of competitive balance within those schedules), it’s good to see a couple of the bigger schools in Division I who’ve struggled in softball climb into contention.
The biggest leap has been Desert Vista.
In polite terms, it’s been a struggle for Chris Crowl’s program since he took over five years ago. Those first five years the Thunder never finished .500 in a season and were 48-78 from 2007-2011.
An …