Updated baseball rankings, as of March 26:
Division I
1. Hamilton 13-3
2. Chaparral 13-4
3. Brophy 10-4
4. Mountain Pointe 8-5-1
5. Mesquite 13-4
6. Desert Mountain 11-6
7. Basha 12-4
8. Corona del Sol 11-5
9. Mountain View 11-4
10. Red Mountain 12-5
Hamilton captured the championship of the Big League Dugout Invitational to strengthen its spot atop the rankings. Chaparral and Brophy had good weeks, and they are followed by Mountain Pointe, which has shaken off a slow start to move up to No. 4 in the rankings. The Pride lost to the Huskies in the championship game of the Big League tournament on Friday. Mesquite, Desert Mountain and Basha each lost a game last week and drop a spot. Corona del Sol went 3-2 in the Big League tournament and moves up a couple spots. Mountain View and Red Mountain had good weeks to enter the rankings, while Cienega and Horizon drop out.
Division II
1. Saguaro 14-3
2. Sunrise Mountain 12-2
3. Sunnyslope 14-2
4. Sabino 13-2
5. Liberty 8-3
6. Arcadia 12-4
7. Salpointe 12-4
8. Sahuaro 10-7
9. Seton Catholic 7-8
10. Canyon del Oro 10-6
Saguaro went 2-0 last week to stay at No. 1. Sunrise Mountain split with Sunnyslope last week and then lost in the Best of the West tournament finals to Yukon (Okla.), but is still one of the top teams. Sunnyslope sticks at No. 3 after the split with Sunrise Mountain. Sabino has won seven in a row to stay at No. 4, followed by Liberty, which went undefeated last week. Arcadia flip-flops with Salpointe after the Titans won three straight last week, and Sahuaro jumps from unranked to No. 8 with a nice run lately. Seton Catholic is still under .500 but has played a brutal schedule and re-enters the rankings after four wins in its past six games. Canyon del Oro lost twice last week and drops to the tenth spot.
Division III
1. Estrella Foothills 10-2
2. Blue Ridge 9-3
3. River Valley 17-3
4. Fountain Hills 11-5
5. Scottsdale Christian 10-4-2
The top-three spots remain the same. Fountain Hills has now won six straight to move up to No. 4, while Scottsdale Christian enters the rankings in the fifth spot. Mingus falls out after losing three games last week.
Division IV
1. Desert Christian 12-4
2. Yuma Catholic 8-2
3. Phoenix Christian 8-4
4. St. David 10-1
5. Tanque Verde 9-6
Desert Christian went 3-0 last week to stay atop the rankings. Yuma Catholic has now won five straight and sticks at No. 2. Phoenix Christian lost a pair of games last week, but both came against out-of-state competition in the Salt River Tournament. St. David continues its hot start with another win this week to join the rankings at No. 4, while Tanque Verde enters at No. 5.
Reach Kyle Odegard at (480) 898-6834 or kodegard@evtrib.com. Follow his blog at http://blogs.evtrib.com/varsityxtra, or find him on Twitter @Kyle_Odegard.
Bgolek posted at 8:27 pm on Tue, Mar 27, 2012.
Once again Mesquite has a very talented group of boys. Hopefully the coaching staff will make the right decisions this year as opposed to past seasons.