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 …

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 …

And then there were two. As in, two weeks of regular season action left before the softball state tournaments begin in earnest on April 28.
The playoff push begins now, because teams who wait until next week to try and make a move could easily be left on the lurch.
(All games are 4 p.m. unless otherwise noted. All records are power point games as of Monday morning):
Xavier at Basha (Tuesday):  The Gators took last week off for their (late) spring break, and are No. 1 in power points at 13-0. The …

In the midst of the April softball power point race with two weeks of games left, let’s get to it:
(All games at 4 p.m. unless noted. All records are power point games only as of Monday afternoon):
Chandler at Basha (Tuesday):  The Wolves (9-2) continue to be one of the nicer stories in EV softball this season, but one of those losses came big against Basha in early March (a 12-2 defeat) and the Bears, despite losing to big to Gilbert recently, are playing well. Are the Wolves a better team?  …

Firmly entrenched in the power point season again, let’s cut to the chase with plenty of really good softball matchups this week (of course that’s easy to come by when it’s 3 or 4 games per week for most schools).
(All games at 4 p.m. unless noted; All records are power point as of Monday, April 2):
Red Mountain at Gilbert (Tuesday):  Probably the biggest game of the week and another preview of Div. I state tournament semifinals or even championship game the way these two schools have been playing. Gilbert won …

The basketball crush has taken priority for the past few weeks, but we will begin unfurling spring sport previews on Friday.
The majority of local baseball teams have played in preseason tournaments over the past few days, so here is an early look at what’s been happening. Power point games begin this week for most programs.
* Queen Creek captured the Laveen Baseball Classic title by defeating Douglas, 6-5, in the championship game. The Bulldogs went 4-1 in the tournament and Chad Leonard was named MVP after finishing 2-0 on the mound …

The moment of truth regarding the alleged power points error is getting closer.
As I said late last week, it looks like the Perry boys basketball team may get squeezed out of the state tournament because of the alleged flaw exposed by a local engineer.
The Pumas did not qualify for their section tournament, and currently sit No. 22 in the power points. Normally, it would leave Perry with a very good chance to qualify for state, but the alleged mistake now makes it more perilous.
Here’s why:
Desert Mountain (No. 24 overall), Chaparral …

A day (or two) late again, but while soccer is in its final few days, girls basketball regular season is in its final week before the new Sectional tournaments (the top 8 teams from each sectional play in its respective tournament, which counts toward power points) at the beginning of February.
It’s a light schedule in terms of big attractions for this week’s games, but next week will more than make up for it.
(All records are power point games only through Tuesday night):
Xavier at Westwood (Wednesday):  The Gators (9-5) are currently …

It’s the final week of the regular season as all final matches take place Thursday night. With the new division/section alignment, 9 automatic qualifying spots for the state tournament (top 3 in each section based on power points) and seven other at-large bids based on PP, it’s going to be a wild finish with many schools playing 2-3 matches this week, and a lot of really good teams will be left out to dry.
(All records are power point matches only as of Monday afternoon):
Perry vs. Mesquite  (Monday); at Mountain Pointe …