On Saturday (April 28) several Division I state baseball tournament first-round games (elimination games this year) test the premise that East Valley schools have been shortchanged in seeding by way of tougher schedules while West Valley and Tucson teams gain better seeds due more to inferior schedules then being truly battle-tested.

A stat to note in this discussion is the sub-par record of non-East Valley schools tournament teams when they have matched up with the East Valley or Scottsdale tournament squads this year. Millennium, St. Mary's, Boulder Creek, Trevor Browne and Tolleson are a combined 2-9 against playoff teams from the East Valley and Scottsdale. Tucson, Sunnyside and Cienega did not play a single power-point game against a team from the East Valley, Scottsdale or outside of Tucson for that matter. Ditto Valley Vista and Centennial not crossing Central Avenue.

The reason to a great  degree is computer scheduling, not necessarily those schools not wanting to venture outside local areas to play. Teams do, however, have the ability to play four freedom games among their 18 power-point games so that opportunity was available.

The first clump of put-up-or-shut-up games (East Valley vs. West Valley/Tucson) on Saturday are : No. 24 Corona del Sol at No. 9 Tucson, No. 22 Centennial at No. 11 Red Mountain; No 21 Gilbert at No. 12 St. Mary's and No. 20 Desert Vista at No. 13 Boulder Creek. More of those games come Tuesday May 1 when the Millennium-Sunnyside winner takes on Desert Mountain and the Cienega-Valley Vista winner plays at Pinnacle.

Just qualfiying this year in Division I is reason for optimism for at least two-thirds of the field. There is a not a team in the tourney I'd note as the favorite. No team with a marquee stable of pitchers. No team putting up double-digit runs consistently. Throw in the single-elimination aspect of rounds one and two only adds to the severely  wide-open feel of the tournament.

Teams with a slight advantage are those who have nabbed first-round byes. Their advantage is having to play only one round of single elimination. They are No. 1 Pinnacle, No. 2 Chaparral, No. 3 Sandra Day O'Connor, No. 4 Brophy, No. 5 Desert Ridge, No. 6 Mesquite, No. 7 Desert Mountain and No. 8 Hamilton.

Sit back and enjoy the tournament and its modified format. It should be a blast no matter who or how they manage to emerge. 

D-I STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Saturday April 28: First-round games (all at 11 a.m.) -- No. 24 Corona del Sol at No. 9 Tucson; No. 23 Sunnyside at No. 10 Millennium; No 22 Centennial at No. 11 Red Mountain; No. 21 Gilbert vs. No.13 St. Mary's at Maryvale Park; No. 19 Tolleson at No. 14 Trevor Browne; No. 18 Mesa Mtn. View at No. 15 Mtn. Pointe; No. 17 Valley Vista at No. 16 Cienega.

Tuesday May 1: Second-round games (all at 4 p.m.) --  Valley Vista-Cienega winner at No. 1 Pinnacle; Corona del Sol-Tucson winner at No. 8 Hamilton; Gilbert-St. Mary's winner at No. 5 Desert Ridge; Desert Vista-Boulder Creek winner at No. 4 Brophy; Tolleson-Trevor Browne winner at No. 3 Sandra Day O'Connor; Centennial-Red Mountain winner at No. 6 Mesquite; Sunnyside-Millennium winner at No. 7 Desert Mountain; Mountain View-Mountain Pointe winner at No. 2 Chaparral.

Thursday May 3: Double-elimination format begins -- Teams TBD