Pima, Willcox also travel to Maricopa County
By Raymundo Frasquillo
AVONDALE – The No. 17 Christopher Aguallo-coached Morenci Wildcats (8-9 seeding, 2.2453 rating) visit No. 16 Saint John Paul II Catholic Lions (12-5, 3.5107) on Wednesday, April 30. It is for a play-in round pairing.
The No. 21 Pima Roughriders (6-9, 0.6476) and the No. 22 Willcox Cowboys (8-9, 0.0858) also travel to Maricopa County, for pairings with the No. 12 Phoenix Horizon Honors Eagles (12-6, 4.8597) and the No. 11 Fountain Hills Falcons (11-5, 5.4973), respectively.
2A Play-in Round
Other Play-in Round pairings have No. 9 Phoenix Country Day School (12-5 seeding, 6.4308 rating) hosting No. 24 Scottsdale Prep (8-11, minus 0.6280), No. 10 Chandler Prep (13-5, 6.3615) hosting No. 23 Tucson Desert Christian (7-10, minus 0.4212), No. 13 Saint Johns (13-6, 4.1054) hosting No. 20 Phoenix Arizona Lutheran (8-10,1.3737), No. 14 Phoenix Veritus Prep (10-7, 3.9754) hosting No. 19 Eloy Santa Cruz (11-5, 2.0962), and No. 15 Phoenix North Valley Christian (11-7, 3.5863) hosting No. 18 Wickenburg (10-6, 2.2201).
Winners advance to the First Round against the top eight ranked teams on May 9 at the Goodyear Ballpark – South Fields, 3171 S. Wood Blvd.
2A South Region Final Standings
The final South Region standings on April 26 had Bisbee (23-3 overall, 18-0 seeding, 8-0 region) first, Benson (13-14-1, 11-6, 6-2) second, Tombstone (17-7-1, 13-4, 6-2) third, Tucson Desert Christian (9-11, 7-10, 5-3) fourth, Willcox (9-14-1, 8-9, 4-4) fifth, Morenci (14-14, 9-9, 4-4) sixth, Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (4-16, 4-13, 2-6) seventh, Tucson Santa Rita (1-10, 1-10, 1-7) eighth, and Tucson San Miguel Catholic (1-15, 1-15, 0-8) ninth.
San Miguel forfeited its final four games with Morenci (April 16), Santa Rita (April 22), Tombstone (April 23), and Bisbee (April 28).
Region game results to date include Bisbee over Desert Christian (15-5 in 5 inn, March 24), Morenci (13-1, April 1), Santa Rita (27-1 in 5 inn, April 4), Saint Augustine (5-4, April 8), Tombstone (7-5, April 18), Willcox (18-2 in 5 inn, April 22), Benson (4-3, April 25), and San Miguel (1-0, April 28); Benson over San Miguel (16-1 in 5 inn, March 27), Santa Rita (21-1 in 5 inn, April 1), Desert Christian (12-4, April 4), Willcox (12-2 in 6 inn, April 8), Saint Augustine (7-5, April 16), and Morenci (4-3, April 22); Tombstone over Morenci (14-1 in 5 inn, March 24), Saint Augustine (16-2 in 5 inn, April 1), San Miguel (15-0 in 5 inn, April 4), Benson (10-0 in 6 inn, April 10), Santa Rita (16-0 in 4 inn, April 14), and Willcox (7-4, April 25); Desert Christian over Santa Rita (18-1 in 4 inn, March 27), San Miguel (25-4 in 5 inn, April 1), Tombstone (8-2, April 8), Willcox (9-1, April 16), and Saint Augustine (15-0 in 5 inn, April 22); Willcox over Morenci (11-2, March 27), San Miguel (13-0 in 5 inn, April 3), Saint Augustine (4-2, April 4), and Santa Rita (13-0 in 4 inn, April 11); Morenci over Santa Rita (17-2 in 5 inn, April 8), San Miguel (1-0, April 16), Desert Christian (14-8, April 17), and Saint Augustine (11-2, April 24); Saint Augustine over Santa Rita (34-15, March 24) an San Miguel (29-16 in 5 inn, April 10): and Santa Rita over San Miguel (1-0, April 22).
2A East Region Standings
The final East Region standings on April 28 had Gilbert San Tan Charter (18-1 overall, 15-1 seeding, 6-0 region) first, Chandler Prep (16-5, 13-5, 5-1) second, Chandler Lincoln Prep (9-11-1, 8-10, 4-2) third, Pima (8-11, 6-9, 3-3) fourth, Gilbert Classical (8-11, 8-11, 2-4) fifth, Miami (2-19, 2-16, 1-5) sixth, and San Carlos (0-13, 0-13, 0-6) seventh.
Results of region games to date are San Tan Charter over San Carlos (17-0 in 4 inn, March 24), Chandler Prep (3-1, April 3), Gilbert Classical (14-0 in 5 inn, April 14), Miami (25-1 in 5 inn, April 16), Lincoln Prep (10-7, April 25), and Pima (8-4, April 28); Chandler Prep over Miami (14-1 in 5 inn, March 19), Pima (3-1, March 28), San Carlos (24-0 in 4 inn, April 9), Gilbert Classical (6-4, April 25), and Lincoln Prep (12-9, April 28); Lincoln Prep over Miami (10-0 in 6 inn, March 21), Gilbert Classical (1-0, April 1), Pima (5-4, April 14), and San Carlos (14-1 in 5 inn, April 22); Pima over Gibert Classical (9-7, April 9), Miami (13-0 in 5 inn, April 11), and San Carlos (11-3, April 16); and Gilbert Classical over Miami (14-4 in 5 inn, March 28) and San Carlos (19-6 in 5 inn, April 3).
2A State Rankings
The state rankings for South Region members as of 10 p.m. on April 28 had Bisbee (16-0 seeding, unrated) Top 8, Tombstone (12-4, unrated) Top 8, Benson (11-5, unrated) Top 8, Morenci (8-9, 2.2453) No. 17, Willcox (8-9, 0.0858) No. 22, Tucson Desert Christian (7-10, minus 0.4212) No. 23, Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (4-13, minus 6.8457) No. 32, Tucson San Miguel Catholic (1-10, minus 14.7123) No. 38, and Tucson Santa Rita (0-10, minus 16.7175) No. 42.
Rankings for East Region members had Gilbert San Tan Charter (13-1 seeding, 13.8362 rating) No. 2, Chandler Prep (13-5, 6.3615) No. 10, Pima (6-9, minus 0.64762) No. 21, Chandler Lincoln Prep (8-10, minus 1.1716) No. 25, Gilbert Classical (8-11, minus 3.7878) No. 29, Miami (2-16, minus 9.9570) No. 36, and San Carlos (0-13, minus 18.4068) No. 44.
No. 16 Saint John Paul II Lions (12-5 overall)
The Sean Maddigan-coached 2A West Region Lions (12-5 overall, 12-5 seeding, 5-2 region for fourth of eight) are averaging a 9-5 (148-92) score per game or a 3-run deficit through 17 games.
Saint John Paul II has seeding game wins over Anthem Prep (5-0, Feb. 27), Laveen Heritage (7-4, March 5), Wellton Antelope Union (11-1 in 5 inn, March 14), San Tan Charter (8-6, March 18), Bullhead City Mohave Accelerated (11-5, March 21), Miami (10-0 in 6 inn, March 24), Kingman Academy (9-8, March 26), Florence American Leadership – Anthem South (11-2, March 28), Whittman Mountainside (18-0 in 4 inn, April 4), Scottsdale Prep (6-5, April 14), Glendale Prep (9-5, April 15), Avondale Highland Prep West (21-2 in 5 inn, April 24) along with losses to Phoenix Bourgade Catholic (13-15, March 3), Phoenix Country Day School (0-8, March 11), Wickenburg (6-16 in 5 inn, April 9), Chandler Prep (0-10 in 5 inn, April 11), and Phoenix North Valley Christian (4-5, April 28).
The Lions have a 14-member team with four seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, and four freshmen. The roster includes seniors Andrew Alvarez (3), Alfredo Barragan (5), Joshua Standage (25), and Adrian Zaragoza (2); juniors Wyatt Bacome (23), Carlos Pedroza (12), and Francisco Vasquez (17); sophomore Derek Guzman (10), Jonathan Martinez (4), and James Pierski (34); and freshmen Martin Apolinar (13), Tyler Arsement (36), Julian Chaparro (1), and Aidan Randall (9).
Saint John Paul II competes in the eight-member 2A West Region with Avondale Highland Prep West, Bullhead City Mohave Accelerated, Glendale Prep, Kingman Academy, Phoenix North Valley Christian, and Tucson schools Desert Christian, Whittman Mountainside, and Wickenburg.
No. 17 Morenci Wildcats (14-14 overall)
The Christopher Aguallo-coached 2A South Region Wildcats (14-14 overall, 9-9 seeding, 4-4 region for sixth of nine) are averaging a 5-6 (150-180) score per game or a 1-run deficit through 28 games.
Morenci has seeding game wins over Pima (5-2, March 11), Eagar Round Valley (19-18, March 19), Phoenix Country Day School (10-9, April 5), Santa Rita (17-2 in 5 inn, April 8), Miami (7-1, April 12), Willcox (7-1, April 14), San Miguel (1-0, April 16), Desert Christian (14-8, April 17), and Saint Augustine (11-2, April 24) along with losses to Saint Johns (5-6, March 17), Eloy Santa Cruz (2-12 in 6 inn, March 20), Tombstone (1-14 in 5 inn, March 24), Willcox (2-11, March 27), Bisbee (1-11 in 6 inn, April 1), Bisbee (1-13 in 5 inn, April 1), Winkelman Hayden (3-12, April 3), Pima (7-8, April 7), and Benson (3-4, April 22).
The Wildcats went 2-3 during the 3-day Florence tourney and 3-2 during their own 3-day tourney. Morenci defeated San Tan Valley San Tan Foothills (4-3 in 5 inn, Feb. 27), Holbrook (3-2 in 5 inn, March 1), Holbroo k (2-1 in 5 inn, March 6), Heber Mogollon (6-5 in 5 inn, March 6), and Saint Johns (9-4 in 4 inn, March 7), and fell to Safford (0-9 in 4 inn, Feb. 27), Superior (1-7 in 4 inn, Feb. 28), San Manuel (1-2 in 5 inn, March 1), Mogollon (6-7 in 5 inn, March 7), and Holbrook (2-6 in 6 inn, March 8).
A 14-member roster includes seniors Peyton Basteen (25), Christopher Carbajal (8), Bryant Figueroa (2), Jeremy Knutsen (16), Christopher Lopez (3), Shane Seballos (7), Marques Varela (23), Jonathan Vasquez (22), and Jacob Verdugo (1); juniors Michael Chavez (33), Jaymz Guzzo (4), Manuel Medina (12), and Anthony Roybal (34); and sophomore Matthew Aguilar (5).
The Wildcats compete in the nine-member 2A South Region with Benson, Bisbee, Tombstone, Willcox, Tucson schools, Desert Christian, Saint Augustine Catholic, San Miguel Catholic, and Santa Rita.
