VarsityXtra

I’m no softball expert, but conventional wisdom seemed to say it would be Scottsdale Chaparral and Tucson Canyon del Oro duking it out for the 4A-I title this season. Both teams returned their ace pitchers, and the Firebirds lost just one position player.

Both teams, though, have struggled some. Chaparral has lost six of its last seven games, albeit against some of the top competition not only in this state, but the West Coast.  Canyon Del Oro is 12-3, the same number of losses it had all of last year.

Meanwhile, Glendale Cactus and Paradise Valley are making a charge. The Cobras are on a five-game winning streak. Paradise Valley began the year 14-0 and is currently ranked No. 1 in the Tribune’s top-5. Its lone loss this year came to Cactus.

If these four teams all make the state semifinals, it would be an incredible couple days of softball, and the winner of it all would be a  most deserving state champion.

There has been plenty of talk about the strange ending to the 5A-I boys basketball semifinal game between Phoenix St. Mary’s and Chandler Hamilton.

As a brief recap, Hamilton was leading by four points with 16 seconds left and had the ball. Game officials ruled that Hamilton’s Zak Hambsch then threw the ball at St. Mary’s guard James Hollins after a timeout call by Hamilton. A technical foul was called, which gave St. Mary’s two free throws and possession.St. Mary’s ended up scoring five points (two free throws and a 3-point field goal) in 11 seconds to rally for a 58-57 win.

My view of the incident was blocked, but most people I talked to afterwards were surprised the call would be made in that situation. I did end up seeing the replay on YouTube, and it’s pretty clear that the Hamilton player did not chuck the ball at Hollins. In my opinion, it’s fair to say Hamilton got the short end of the stick on that one.

However, there’s not much that can be done after the fact. The call was at the referee’s discretion, and unless he immediately decided to change the call, it’s something that should stick. Giving officials the ability to change a call after a game is just too much leeway. It was an unfortunate call, but something that was handled correctly by the AIA.