The initial AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps for softball will be released next Wednesday, April 1. The state playoffs for all four divisions will begin about a month later on May 2.

The top two teams in each section will earn an automatic berth to the state playoffs for a total of 12 berths. The remaining 12 teams will come from divisional rankings for a total of 24 teams. Being in the top 24 does not guarantee a playoff spot due to the automatic bids.

For Division I, there will be eight automatic berths and 16 at-large bids.

The first two rounds of D-I and D-II will be single-elimination with the final eight teams moving to a double-elimination format. D-III and D-IV will play five rounds of single-elimination. The top eight seeds in all divisions will earn a first-round bye.

Only looking at non-invitational games, defending D-II state champion Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge entered the weekend with a divisional record of 6-1 and a section record of 2-0. 

The Nighthawks lost to D-II/S-II leader Vail Cienega on Mar. 6 but their record was bolstered by a 14-inning, 2-1 victory over Tucson Sahuaro.

Ironwood Ridge hosted D-I/S-III power Mesa Red Mountain on Saturday afternoon in a rare cross-divisional weekend game and came out on top 10-0 after five innings. Red Mountain (2-5, 1-1) defeated Ironwood Ridge at the Desert Mountain Tournament last Saturday but invitational games are not figured in.

This time, the game counted.

Junior pitcher Kelly Decker held Red Mountain to four hits in five innings but she was also backed up by a strong defense and delivered huge strikeouts after the Mountain Lions loaded the bases twice only to come up empty.

Ironwood Ridge put up five runs in the bottom of the third with two outs, with the final three being unearned after an infield fly was mishandled. Coming up big for Ironwood Ridge was junior Kelsey Buechler who connected on a 2-RBI single.

Red Mountain worked the bases loaded in the top of the fourth with one out but a strike out and a fielder's choice ended the threat.  The Mountain Lions loaded the bases again in the fifth with two outs but another strikeout ended that threat.

Senior Alex Wiley recovered from the third inning and shut down Ironwood Ridge in the fourth but the Nighthawks came up with back-to-back singles from Buechler and Alex Rapp in the bottom of the fifth to force a pitching change.

Bailey Coronado took the circle but Loriann Olson bunted to load the bases. Merrilee Miller followed with an RBI single, Reina Bondi singled in Rapp and Annika Baez hit the outfield wall to score two more.

Bondi move to third base on the double and raced home on a passed ball for the 10-0 victory. The win was in contrast to the loss the Nighthawks had suffered last week where the team gave up a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth with Red Mountain plating 11 runs for the win.

Red Mountain Scottsdale Chaparral (3-3, 1-0) on Tuesday and Ironwood Ridge will host Vail Empire (2-1, 0-0) on Monday.