While the 3A East Region didn’t have a regional tournament, the opening round of the state tournament could end up replicating what a regional tournament would have looked like if things fall a certain way on Friday.
Holbrook, Payson, Blue Ridge, Winslow and Show Low all find themselves in the bottom half of the 16-team bracket, occupying five of the eight seeds in the bracket.
With No. 6 Holbrook facing No. 11 Payson, at least one East Region team is guaranteed a spot in the second round. Winslow seeded No. 15 will have to get past No. 2 Casteel. Blue Ridge at No. 14 will face No. 3 Sahuarita, and No. 10 Show Low matches up against No. 7 Chino Valley.
With the southern Arizona teams holding a decided advantage in baseball over the years it would appear that along with the Holbrook vs. Payson winner, Show Low may have the best opportunity to make the second round. Winslow, which finished fifth in the East Region this season, has their ace Ricardo Villanueva who is very tough but the Bulldogs may need to give him more run support to get past a solid Casteel team, which included seven shut outs while going 17-1 this season.
Blue Ridge finished the region in fourth position, and will be facing a Sahuarita team, which went 15-3 in regular season games, playing against tough Southern Region opponents throughout the season.
Chino Valley is not exactly a southern Arizona team but they did win the 3A west region and went 14-3 in power point contests. Show Low finished in a three-way tie along with Payson and Holbrook for the East Region crown and went 13-5 in regular season games.
The Holbrook and Payson match up involves two teams which split with each other in the regular season with the winning team scoring just four runs in both games. This might be the best game involving any of the East Region teams and could go either way, with no clear-cut favorite.
If Show Low, Winslow, and Blue Ridge were all to pull upset wins on Friday, they would join the Holbrook vs. Payson winner in what would be an all East Region Quarterfinal round.
