By Greg Perkins While the 3A East baseball teams didn’t last long in the 3A state tournament, three of the five east region softball teams have all advanced to the second round that will have been played on Tuesday of this week. The only east region teams not to advance were Show Low who fell to Winslow and Blue Ridge who was blasted by Snowflake in the opening round. The Lobos didn’t waste any time with the Yellowjackets. In their two games played this year the combined score in two regular-season wins was 18-2. Saturday’s first-round state game wasn’t that close. Snowflake defeated Blue Ridge 25-0 in five innings. That win sets up No. 2 Snowflake with an afternoon home game against No. 10 Tanque Verde on Tuesday. The Hawks defeated No. 7 Page in a mild upset on Saturday. If the Lobos advance, they will meet up with No. 3 Payson or No. 6 Northwest Christian on Friday in the semi-final round. Payson has to get past No. 6 Northwest Christian first, which will be a tall task. Along with Payson, Northwest Christian was the only other team to defeat Snowflake this year. The semi-final games will be played on Friday at Rose Mofford Complex, with the state championship game held next Monday in Hillenbrand Stadium at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Top-seeded Sabino will take on No. 9 Winslow and with a win, they would more than likely face off with No. 4 Empire in the other semifinal game.
