Arizona

Arizona softball continues to rise in national polls

Published

8 months ago

February 18, 2025

Arizona softball continues to rise in national polls

Softball teams are starting to separate themselves after the second week of competition. Were their preseason rankings too high or too low? Were they left out altogether when they shouldn’t have been? The Arizona Wildcats are firmly in the camp of living up to or even exceeding expectations.

Arizona is higher after week two than it was in all four preseason polls. It rose in three of the four polls for the second straight week.

D1 Softball and Softball America both rank the Wildcats in the top 10. Softball America bumped Arizona up two spots to No. 9 this week. D1 Softball kept the Wildcats at No. 10, a position they moved into after the first week of play.

The USA Today/NFCA poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll still have the team outside the top 10. USA Softball gave the Wildcats the biggest boost of all four major rankings, moving them up four spots to No. 11.

NFCA now ranks Arizona the lowest of the four. It moved the Wildcats up two spots to No. 13 after the second week of competition. This is the poll used as the official ranking on this site.

The Wildcats now have an average ranking of 10.75 across the four polls. That’s an improvement from 12.75 after week one and 14.75 in the preseason polls.

Arizona is the highest-ranked Big 12 team in three of the four polls. The other two teams that are still ranked are Oklahoma State (5-4) and Texas Tech (8-3) after Baylor (6-4) fell out of all four this week.

The NFCA poll clusters all three Big 12 teams together with No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 14 Oklahoma State sandwiching the Wildcats. USA Softball also clusters the three together but has No. 11 Arizona over No. 12 TTU and No. 13 OSU. Softball America has the other two teams a bit behind No. 9 Arizona with the Cowgirls coming in at No. 12 and the Red Raiders at No. 13. D1 Softball has No. 11 OSU one spot behind Arizona and TTU back at No. 14.

The Wildcats can climb even higher if they rise to the occasion at this week’s Hillenbrand Invitational. Arizona will welcome in No. 1 Texas and No. 18 Stanford along with UC Davis and Colorado State beginning on Thursday, Feb. 20.

Lead photo by Madison Farwell / Arizona Athletics

Source link

Related Topics:arizona continues desert Featured front page in national polls rise softball swarm to

Click to comment

Arizona

Unavailable for legal reasons

Published

13 hours ago

October 29, 2025

Press Room

Unavailable for legal reasons

We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time. For any issues, e-mail us at info@franklinnews.org or call us at (847) 497-5230.

Source link

Arizona

How wide open is the expanded Arizona 2A high school football playoff field?

Published

1 day ago

October 28, 2025

Press Room

How wide open is the expanded Arizona 2A high school football playoff field?

This week, the 2A Arizona high school football playoffs begin for 16 of the 24 teams in the postseason. The top eight teams have byes to next week’s round of 16.

The expanded field gives a conference with 51 schools a chance to extend the season. But how wide open is it? The Arizona Lutheran win over Scottsdale Christian in the final week of the regular season showed it might be anybody’s title.

“I think it’s as open as it can be,” said Scottsdale Christian coach Mike Sheahan, whose team won the past two titles and was No. 1 by The Arizona Republic all season until the Arizona Lutheran loss. “Whoever gets hot will win it.”

Let’s break down the Oct. 31 first-round matchups. All games start at 7 p.m., at the higher seed’s field:

No. 17 Santa Cruz (5-5) at No. 16 Glendale Prep (7-3). This isn’t your typical Santa Cruz team. It got blown out by Phoenix Christian and Arizona Lutheran during a four-game losing streak. Glendale Prep’s loss to No. 1 Veritas Prep should help it adjust to what it needs to win this game. The winner plays at Veritas Prep on Nov. 7.

No. 24 Tonopah Valley (4-5) at No. 9 Tanque Verde (8-2). The winner plays at No. 8 Camp Verde on Nov. 7. Tonopah Valley hasn’t had the same offensive firepower that it did the last few years under Brett Davis. Tanque Verde looks like a team ready to move into the next round.

No. 21 Scottsdale Prep (5-5) at No. 12 Parker (7-2). Don’t expect an upset. Parker should advance to play Nov. 7 at No. 5 Arizona Lutheran, which had one of its toughest games two weeks ago in a 19-12 win over the Broncs. “After playing Parker, I thought they were a top-eight team,” Arizona Lutheran coach David Peter said.

No. 20 Alchesay (6-2) at No. 13 Chandler Prep (7-3). The winner advances against No. 4 St. John’s, which has a legit shot to win the whole thing. Chandler Prep should win, but it is coming off a 35-7 loss to Pima.

No. 19 Globe (6-4) at No. 14 Benson (6-4). Benson has more impressive wins, a tougher schedule and should get through to face No. 3 Phoenix Christian on Nov. 7.

No. 22 Mountainside (6-4) at No. 11 Trivium Prep (7-3). When these teams met on Oct. 10, Trivium Prep struggled to beat Mountainside 20-14. It’s always hard to beat the same team twice in a season. The winner goes to No. 6 Willcox on Nov. 7.

No. 23 Holbrook (6-4) at No. 10 Pima (6-4). Don’t bet against Pima, which may be the healthiest it has been all season, after taking apart Chandler Prep last week. Holbrook just lost to Tuba City 20-18. Expect to see Pima next week at No. 7 San Tan Charter.

No. 18 Tuba City (7-3) at No. 15 Morenci (6-4). It’s been difficult for a reservation school to get beyond the first round in football, and Tuba City, which is part of the Navajo Nation, is facing a team that has had an extremely hard schedule, losing close games to Pima (13-6) and St. Johns (21-12) down the stretch. Expect Morenci to play at No. 2 Scottsdale Christian on Nov. 7.

Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert

Source link

Arizona

Arizona State vs Iowa State picks, predictions for college football Week 10 game Saturday

Published

2 days ago

October 27, 2025

Press Room

Arizona State vs Iowa State picks, predictions for college football Week 10 game Saturday

The Iowa State Cyclones and Arizona State Sun Devils play on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Iowa State football’s Jack Trice Stadium in a game on the college football Week 10 schedule.

Which team will win the college football Week 10 game?

Check out these college football Week 10 picks and college football Week 10 predictions for the Big 12 game, which can be seen at 10 a.m. MST on TNT (stream with Sling).

Iowa State is a 5.5-point favorite over Arizona State in college football Week 10 odds for the game, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

The Cyclones are -210 on the moneyline, while the Sun Devils are +170. The over/under (point total) for the game is set at 50.5 points.

Watch Arizona State at Iowa State live on Sling

Jeremy Cluff writes: “Iowa State has had this game circled since the Big 12 schedule was released. Rocco Becht and the Cyclones will be ready for this game, eager to get some revenge for their loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 title game last season.”

Dimers.com: Iowa State 27, Arizona State 24

It writes: “After extensive simulations, our model gives Arizona State a win probability of 41%, while Iowa State has a win probability of 59%.”

ESPN: Iowa State has a 66.5% chance to defeat Arizona State on Saturday

The site gives the Sun Devils a 33.5% shot at winning the college football Week 10 game over the Cyclones on Nov. 1, 2025.

Bookies.com: Bet Iowa State to cover vs Arizona State

Bill Speros writes: “Perhaps the most notable thing about this game has it landing on TNT. This slot was set aside for the Big 12 games ESPN gave to TNT and TBS in exchange for the rights to air ‘Inside the NBA’ this season. Shaq, Ernie, Kenny and Charles for ASU at Iowa State? Both teams stand 5-3 outright, 3-2 in the Big 12, have covered just 3 times this season, are coming off home Big 12 losses at home, and have failed to be meet their lofty conference expectations this season. ISU dropped its third-straight conference game Saturday, losing 41-27 to BYU on Homecoming Weekend. Ouch. The Sun Devils exited the Top 25 following a 24-16 home loss to Houston. The home team here gets a slight edge due to the early start and temperatures in the 40s come kickoff time.”

The site’s formula predicts that the Cyclones will beat the Sun Devils in the Big 12 football game this week.

Eddie Kline writes: “Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt was forced to leave Saturday’s loss with a lower leg injury and his status for this game is uncertain. With Leavitt and Tyson banged up, it is hard to imagine the Sun Devils finding a way to win in this spot.”

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Sign up for azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing.

Source link