Mountain Ridge possesses an ace and perhaps a trump card in senior left-hander Matthew Liberatore in the 6A playoffs. (AzPreps365 photo)

The 6A Desert Valley Region was a tight race to the finish. So tight in fact that Mountain Ridge and Sandra Day O'Connor finished with identical records in region (8-2) vs. conference opponents (13-5) and overall (13-5) in their 18 power-ranking games. The only thing separating them was their final power ranking -- #5 for Mountain Ridge and #7 for Sandra Day O'Connor.

Well, as the 6A state tournament whittles the competitors down, both are on equal footing heading to the final week of the season. Mountain Ridge is in the semis of the top bracket and unbeaten in the tourney. Ditto Sandra Day O'Connor in the bottom half. Mountain Ridge has defeated Perrry, Red Mountain and Hamilton. O'Connor has topped Desert Vista, Westwood and Skyline.

The other four remaining teams are #1 Mountain View, #8 Hamilton, #11 Skyline and #14 Brophy Prep. On Tuesday May 8 Hamilton and Mountain View meet for the second time in the tourney for the right to play and and attempt to beat twice, Mountain Ridge to reach the final. Also on Tuesday May 8 Skyline and Brophy meet a second time to get a shot or two at Sandra Day O'Connor.

Here's a brief look at the six teams remaining in the title chase:

#1 Mountain View:  The Toros and head coach Mike Thiel (21st year as head coach) garnered the top seed for the second time in 10 years. The last time that happened Mountain View reached the final six. That's been their best finish since. Mountain View is the last Mesa school to win a state title and that was in Thiel's first year as head coach in 1998. A roster of 10 seniors and 10 juniors have produced a bounce-back campaign from last year's 13-15 record. The Toros did not qualify for postseason in 2017. They are balanced with three capable starters, three relievers and an offense with five players contributing 20 RBI or more. Leaders are senior Joe Georgini, a three-year starter (third base and closer this year). Senior John Neeley leads the pitching staff and thrives on getting the ball for big games. Catcher Brandon Todd has embodied the leadership at the position that every coach desires, according to Thiel. Junior Sean Rimmer (outfielder-pitcher),  junior McKay Barney (centerfield) and Georgini have been on each of the last three varsity teams.  Mountain View, however, lost in the first round of double elimination to Hamilton, but stayed alive by beating and eliminating Brown road-rival Red Mountain on May 4.

#5 Mountain Ridge: The Mountain Lions obviously have made waves under first-year head coach Artie Cox after he served four years as the team's pitching coach. Pitching is a forte and has been all year led by superb left-hander Matthew Liberatore, a projected first-round, major league pick by many in June. Picking up as a quality No. 2 is transfer Jake Martinez, who has been solid especially the second half of the season. He tossed a one-hitter in blanking Red Mountain to open the double-elimination portion of state. Along with pitching, Cox praises the defense and continued improvement offensively. Mountain Ridge was knocked out last year in two games of double elimination after taking runner-up honors in 2016 and taking third in 2015.

#7 Sandra Day O'Connor: Coach Jeff Baumgartner has manned the deck for 16 seasons. The Eagles have come around of late so much so they battled Mountain Ridge tooth and nail to the end for the tough aforementioned Desert Valley Region title. "We developed a competitiveness towards the end of the year," Baumgartner said. "We took our lumps at the beginning of the year. Our pitching has come around to give us competitive innings and keep us in ballgames." Team leaders on offense are leadoff hitter Jayce Easley and potential early-round pro draft pick Nolan Gorman and his prestigious power. Catcher Jacob Vesecky has controlled the defense. Developing the pitching staff as players learned and adapted to roles has been huge. O'Connor has made the playoffs in 15 of 16 seasons, been to the final four four times and were runner-up in 5A-2 in 2008.

#8 Hamilton: The two-time defending champion Huskies have had better years and healthier ones, but they still managed a top-8 finish in the power rankings to earn a bye and have received stellar pitching in their first three state games this season. The first two were wins (3-2 over Desert Mountain and 8-1 over Mountain View). Hamilton lost three-fifths of its starting infield to injury in preaseson and the first two weeks of play. Depth has played a huge factor in their continued success and ability to return and defend their titles. Top players this season are outfielder JD McLaughlin, catcher Britt Graham, corner infielder Hayden Baker and pitcher Shane Murphy. Murphy tamed Desert Mountain in the playoff opener and Dustin Bermudez stifled Mountain View in the first round of double elimination with an 11-strikeout performance. Unfortunately for Hamilton, Bermudez torn an ACL playing the infield late in the win over Mountain View and is done for the playoffs.

#11 Skyline: The Coyotes have found themselves after a 4-0 start in the East Valley Region that was followed by a five-game skid in region play. They won their final regular-season game and  have added three postseason wins in impressive fashion. They lost their first tournament game to Sandra Day O'Connor on May 4 sending them to the loser's bracket. Pitcher Cole Yocum has been a key to their surge, winning a couple of postseason games and supplying leadership and hitting from the leadoff spot. AJ Herrera, Jan Rollon and Tyler Jackson have swung hot bats of late in the top half of the order. Coach Pat Herrera is no stranger to going deep in postseason having done it at Desert Ridge, including winning two state titles (5A-II in 2009 and 5A-1 in 2010). This is Skyline's best run in postseason since Herrera took over in 2014. They've qualified for postseason the last four years.

#14 Brophy: The Broncos have hovered around .500 all season (currently 14-16) and did just enough to qualify for a play-in game under first-year head coach Josh Garcia, a former Brophy standout. They knocked off Horizon in the play-in game and upset Basha in the first round of state after losing three times to the Bears during the regular season. Brophy is young with an everyday lineup that features two to three seniors at best. Junior Cam Glosser is the top hitter at .400 and junior Johnny Dowse is tops in RBI with 20. Senior Stephen Buckel and junior Mason Kokodynski have done the bulk of the starting pitching. Kokodynski has won two of the three games the Broncos have claimed in postseason, including a 3-0 shutout of Westwood in their first elimination game on May 4.