The first round of the singles and doubles competition for all three divisions begins this Friday, April 22, at various sites in the Phoenix area. Here are the top seeds from Southern Arizona for each division plus some notes:
The first path to the post season runs through the section races and this is how the races from Southern Arizona look right now. All records are section records.
Abby Miller spent a lot of her childhood trying out different sports and even gave softball a go, like her older sister University of Arizona outfielder Merrilee Miller. The Ironwood Ridge senior also has a golf gene in her family thanks to an uncle who played at East Carolina so she gave that a try.
The Chris Moon Memorial Classic is named after the Tucson High 2007 consensus Southern Arizona Player of the Year pitcher and outfielder Chris Moon. Moon was drafted by the Atlanta Braves but chose instead to play for Andy Lopez at Arizona.
Tucson went undefeated (4-0) to earn the top seed in the Championship Bracket of the Badger Invitational to be played Saturday at Cherry Field. The Badgers outscored their opponents 41-11 in the process. Buena (3-1) earned the 2-seed.
Six teams are taking part in the D'Eredita Memorial Raven Baseball Invitational held at Empire High School. Each team is scheduled for three games with bracket play scheduled for Saturday.
In addition, softball will be played at the Tucson Badger Invitational at Cherry Field. Pool play starts on Wednesday and the championship is scheduled for Saturday night.
As noted by our own Les Willsey, the AIA's Legislative Council adopted pitch-count limits for baseball last Friday, March 4. The new rules for pitching and resting will go into effect February of 2017. The limits are based on guidelines followed by USA Baseball.