Local Glance: April 26
PREP PLAYOFFS
Baseball, softball brackets announced
The Gila Ridge baseball team will host Seton Catholic at 11 a.m. Saturday, according to the AIA Division II bracket released Thursday.
If the No. 13 Hawks top their 20th-ranked foes, they'll travel to No. 4 Douglas in the second round Tuesday.
The only other baseball team in the postseason is Yuma Catholic, who earned the No. 4 seed in Division IV and won't play until May 4 against either No. 13 Scottsdale Prep or No. 20 Joseph City.
The Cibola softball team ended up with a No. 7 seed and a first-round bye in Division I. The Raiders will play Tuesday against No. 10 Buena and No. 23 Saint Mary's. Gila Ridge will play Saturday in a Division II opening round game at No. 8 Desert Edge, having just made the postseason as the 24th and final team.
Antelope will makes its first softball playoff appearance in half a decade, facing No. 15 Bagdad at 6 p.m. Wednesday on Rose Mofford Field No. 6 in Phoenix.
There were also a trio of teams that just missed out. In Division I baseball, Kofa and Cibola each finished 11-7 but finished 26th and 27th, respectively. Yuma Catholic softball finished 10-8 but was 25th in the final power rankings.
PREP TENNIS
Qian, Nickerson face difficult opponent
After surviving to get to the quarterfinals, Gila Ridge boys doubles team Kevin Qian and Scotty Nickerson's road in the playoffs will get tougher.
Much tougher.
The pair will face off against the No. 1-seeded doubles team, Alex Petford and Cody Petford from Ironwood Ridge, at 5 p.m. today at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.
Qian and Nickerson defeated the doubles team from Nogales 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals. Of the eight remaining teams, Qian and Nickerson are one of only two that were not seeded in the top eight going into the tournament.
PREP GOLF
YC rolls at Parker
Yuma Catholic shot a 150 on Thursday to claim first in a four-way meet at Emerald Canyon Golf Course in Parker.
The Shamrocks claimed the top five spot. Grady Bourguignon and Joey Pickels tied at 36, while Max Coffeen and Zach Estes tied for third with a 39. Kody Boyd was fifth with a 43.
Antelope took fourth as a team with a 210, but Skyler Salcido was the top non-Shamrock with a 43.
PREP TRACK AND FIELD
Compton earns qualifying time for YC
Sydney Compton secured her spot in the state tournament, running a 27:03 in the 200 meter dash for Yuma Catholic on Wednesday at Lake Havasu.
Compton is now ranked second in Division IV, surpassing her teammate Jackie Hill.
“We had quite a few improvements, people moving up in the standings,” YC coach Ralph Farr said.
Philip Hoovestol improved his 400 time to take first in the event. The boys 1600 relay team improved their time by two second at the meet, running a 3:34.37.
The 3200 relay team was six seconds shy of a state-qualifying time but set a new personal best of the season with a time of 9:03.03. The relay team is ranked eight in DIV.
The Shamrocks will have one more chance to qualify more athletes at the Desert Vista Last Chance Invitational on Friday, May 4.
