Softball: Desert Mtn Invite championship bracket set

March 17, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Desert Vista completed pool play on Thursday night as the only unbeaten team at the 19th anuual Desert Mountain Softball Invitational at Horizon Park.

Desert Vista (4-0) earned the top seed in the eight-team championship bracket by knocking off Pinnacle, 8-6, in its final pool game. The late arriving out-of-state team -- Iolani School from Honolulu, HI, upended Hamilton in its bid to go 4-0 by taking down the Huskies, 5-4. Iolani played all four of its pool games consecutively on Thursday. The Raiders went 3-1 and qualified for the championship bracket.

Here are the championship and consolation brackets for the final two days of the tournament on Friday (March 18) and Saturday (March 19). The top eight teams via the tournament's power-ranking structure qualified for the championship bracket. Teams 9-16 are in the consolation bracket and teams 17-20 play games against one another early Saturday to finish their participation.

The championship bracket conducts first-round games on Friday (March 18) at noon at Horizon Park. The semifinals and finals are Saturday (March 19) at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. Here are the 1-8 pairings for the championship bracket -- #1 Desert Vista (4-0) vs. #8 Chaparral; (3-1);  #4 Hamilton (3-1) vs. #5 Iolani HI (3-1); (3-1) #3 Pinnacle (3-1) vs. #6 Ironwood Ridge (3-1) and #2 Sahuaro (3-1) vs. #7 Cactus (3-1).

The consolation bracket first round games (teams 9-16)  are Friday at 10 a.m. at Horizon Park. The matchups are: #9 Desert Ridge (1-3) vs. #16 Millennium; (1-3); #12 Corona del Sol (2-2) vs. #13 Red Mountain (3-1); #11 Queen Creek (2-2)  vs. #14 Mountain Pointe (1-3) and #10 Chandler (2-2) vs. #15 Mountain Ridge (1-3). The semifinals and finals of that bracket are Saturday at 8 a.m, 10 a.m. and noon. 

Teams 17-20 play Saturday morning at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. The 8 a.m. matchups are #17 Horizon (1-3) vs. #20 Basha (0-4) and # 18 Highland (1-3) vs. #19 Desert Mountain (0-4).