Top seeds, favorites and best matchups of the Arizona baseball playoffs

This baseball season has seen some long winning streaks by some of the top teams in Arizona.

O'Connor (Phoenix) opened the year with 23 straight wins, Desert Mountain (Scottsdale) ripped off 11 in a row and River Valley (Mohave Valley) walked off the diamond 21 times without its winning percentage decreasing.

All impressive for sure, but now that the postseason is here the sustained excellence doesn't need to be nearly as long.

"We have figured it will take 105 outs (the equivalent of 5 games)," Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) coach Brandon Buck said. "That's what we are concentrating on."

Of course there are different variables than regular season games, like the pressure of elimination, to make winning streaks more difficult to pull off. In the two big divisions, it isn't even necessary, as the double elimination format (once the 24-team field is down to the Elite Eight) allows for a bad game.

But rip off four or five wins, depending on where a team is seeded, and chances are it leads to a championship.

"Pitching and defense wins championships," Tucson High Magnet School coach Oscar Romero said before his team found out it was the second seed in Division I on Thursday. "The team that has the right chemistry kicking in at the end of the season with unselfish play is the key. The tournament format lends itself to winning this thing with three quality arms."

Not many have that kind of depth so it is going to take an effort from the entire pitching staff and some outside help.

"I like the format," Tolleson coach Scott Richardson said. "I truly believe you can't ride one or even two arms through to the championship. It is going to take good pitching and defensive performances, and for some balls to bounce your way."

Throw in some timely hitting and it sounds like the beginnings of a winning streak.

Here are some of the top candidates to pull it off:

Division I
Top four seeds: No. 1 Desert Mountain (Scottsdale), No. 2 Tucson High Magnet School, No. 3. Desert Ridge (Mesa), No. 4 Pinnacle (Phoenix)

Best first-round matchup: No. 22 Desert Vista (Phoenix) at No. 11 Brophy College Prep (Phoenix) – Two coaching legends in DV's Stan Luketich and Brophy's Tom Succow have matched many times over the years and it's a shame one of these managers and squads will be done after one game.

Favorite: Desert Mountain, which is No. 8 nationally in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, won 13 of its last 14 to close the regular season with a 26-4 record. The Wolves have six players headed to college, including Ben Rodriguez to Pepperdine, David Greer to Arizona State and Jakob Goldfarb to Oregon. They make the routine plays defensively and put the ball in play.

Division II
Top four seeds: No. 1 Seton Catholic (Chandler), No. 2 Greenway (Phoenix), No. 3 Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale), No. 4 Sahuaro (Tucson).

Best first-round matchup: No. 18 Williams Field (Gilbert) at No. 15 Queen Creek. This will be the third meeting between the teams as Queen Creek tries to sweep the season series.

Favorite: Notre Dame. Before news broke that the brother of Notre Dame coach Brian Fischer left the team because of a family matter, it would have been Seton. But after seeing how the Notre Dame football team responded after the death of the football coach Scot Bemis, there is no question the Saints are going to really be behind Fischer.

Division III
Top four seeds: No. 1 Show Low (Show Low), No. 2 River Valley (Mohave Valley), No. 3 Fountain Hills and No. 4 Scottsdale Christian Academy (Phoenix).

Best first-round matchup: No. 23 Camp Verde vs. No. 10 Chino Valley. These two squads met early in the season and split a pair of one-run games. If the third game follows the same script the last out should be hard to come by.

Favorite: River Valley is the defending champion and won 23 of 26 games this season. The Dust Devils had won 21 straight before losing the regular season finale. The offensive hit .395 with 57 doubles while ace Tyler Scully (7-0, 0.60 ERA) will be the bulldog they need to close out games.

Division IV
Top four seeds: No. 1 Yuma Catholic (Yuma), No. 2 St. Johns, No. 3 Phoenix Christian (Phoenix), No. 4 Desert Christian (Tucson).

Best first-round matchup: No. 17 vs. No. 16 Phoenix Country Day (Paradise Valley). Both teams enter the tournament on a four-game win streak with an opportunity to pull off an upset of top-seeded Yuma Catholic in the second round.

Favorite: Yuma Catholic made the finals last season but lost by the 10-run rule against St. David in six innings. The Shamrocks (21-1) have outscored opponents 279-20 this season. It is hard to see someone shutting down that offense or scoring enough to keep up.

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Ahwatukee Foothills News staff writer, is an 18-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.