AZSPORTSNETWORK

Hello sports fans:

I have had a few emails asking or possibly questioning our all-state awards. I think this is great and this is usually the case as in any selection process.

I will try and answer some of these questions as to how this works and why we feel we do more and better than any other organization that puts out all-state selections:

1. Committee: Although we get nominations through many avenues, our committee has nothing to do with any conference or teams. The committee is consulted after as we are making our selections. So we are looking for the best players around regardless of school, winning program or conferences.

2. All-Conference Selections: We do not look at what players were selected for their All-Conference awards. I personally do not like looking at these awards because they can be skewed and at times very political. Also, the way awards are done nowadays there is not a real selection of the players but the teams just get so many slots based on winning percentage. This is not what we are about. WE do not want to place a kid just because he was picked in his region. So if a player is 1st team in his conference doesn't make him 1st team All-state, 2nd team all-state or even honorable mention because that player is now going against all players across the state.

3. Conference Strength: If you see more players from one conference than another that is not done on purpose but basically comes down to coincidence but does show more than likely where the top teams were during the season. So in basketball the North is like the East in football. Show Low is a great example of a team that barely made the playoffs in football because the East is so tough but made it all the way to the championship game. I am sure many East football players who were 2nd team all-conference were better than some 1st team conference selections from another conference.

4. All-state selections: All other organizations only give 5 players for 1st team and 5 players for 2nd team all-state. WE do double that and get in more players. So if our list is seen as not having a player on the team just think what the other organizations will be like??!! when they only select 10 total.

5. AZSports has seen EVERY player on their list in person or on film. WE cover the entire state and I know this is not done by any other organization.

6. WE look at all players. This means you may see a few kids who we watched over and over again because we saw something with this player where others did not. WE feel good about looking at all players and giving them a chance.

7. Stats: Just because a player leads the state in points or steals or assists does not mean they will make an all-state team or be higher than a player with less stats. We are looking for the BEST players and not just who leads their team or the state in scoring. Yes at times it plays a part but not all of the time.

WE welcome comments and if a player has somehow been missed and we did not look at him/her send them our way.

Hello 1A Sports Fans!!!

Today we are announcing our 1A Boys All-State Team for the 2009-2010 basketball season. I wanted to explain how we do our all-state team so that you can understand why it is not only different in our opinion, but we feel it is the best around for obvious reasons. being a coach for 25+ years I have always believed the following:

1. Each classification should have their own All-state Players without being linked to the other classifications.

2. Basketball teams should consist of 1st and 2nd teams.

3. Basketball teams should have 10 players for 1st and 2nd teams. My reasoning is how many teams do you see around that only use 5 players? Even if you do have a few teams the best team usually is a team that has 10 players where you have depth to rotate in and out of the game. Thus we select the top 10.

4. We do include honorable mention but our honorable mention is not just players we throw in. The honorable mention is a spot for those who make the cut from one level to the next for us. We do not throw 20 names out just to mention them.

5. A committee of coaches and other very credible sources are involved in the process. But mainly coaches who are active and retired select players.

6. Personally I do an in depth look at all teams thru video, phone calls and actual watching of players. We feel with our rankings and great coverage across the state that we get most players who deserve these awards.

7. This year we have included our 9th grade phenom team. WE did switch things around but we looked at overall games played and how much playing time plus stats they accumulated, plus their overall contribution to a team.

8. Our Coach of the Year Award is not just blindly thrown out to conference or state championship winners. We are looking for the coach who has done the best job in all areas. Sometimes that is a coach who wins it all but also that coach who did the best in changing their team around from previous years as well.

9. Player of the Year: WE select a player of the year by the fans from each conference. Then a selection is made based on the OVERALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR in each classification.

10. We strongly believe all-state players can be from non-playoff or non-winning teams. The facts prove that although success as a team is important, there are some players who fit all-state caliber but do not have the supporting players to make staff. We make sure we do not overlook those players.

Here is a list of the selections. WE will also have a spot on our website with pictures, stats and videos as well throughout the week: Please remember the top 5 are those who we feel would be the starting lineup 1A Boys 1st Team All-State:

1A 1st Team All-State:

1. Gibert Christian: Dillion Currior
2. Valley Union: Saul Mancinas
3. St. Michaels: Kurtis Silversmith
4. St. Gregory: Frank Mgbolu,
5. Valley Lutheran: Matt Gabrielson

6. Gibert Christian: Connor Patterson
7. Patagonia: Ryan Schrimpf
8. Valley Lutheran: Sam Voas
9. Joe City: Justin Clifford
10. St. Mikes: Samuel Hardy

1A 2nd Team All-State:

1. Mogollon: JT Slade
2. Gilbert Christian: Logan Fougnies
3. St. Gregory: Blake Gephart
4. Tanque Verde: Luke Herchenroeder
5. Valley Union: Jason Collins
6. Veritas: Mark Promberger
7. Orme: Metehan Akcam
8. Duncan: Rustin Jones
9. Ft. Thomas: Troy Stanley
10. PDSD: Francisco German

Honorable Mention:

St. David: Paul Kartchner, St. Gregory: Matt Fox, Joy Christian: Christian Almgren, Mayer: Tony Warburton: Rock Point: Quanah Yazzie, Gilbert Christian: Brandon Palacio, Mogollon: JT Maner, Orme: Theo Turner, Ft. Thomas: Estevan Mesa, Valley Lutheran: Hraunar Gudmundsson, St. Michaels: Tywray Hardy, St. Augustine: Patrick Johnson

Freshman Phenom All-State team:

1. Patagonia: Bethel Romero
2. St. David: Myka Campbell
3. Superior: Mario Padilla
4. Bowie/San Simon: Vince Woodcox
5. Valley Lutheran: Aaron Koehne
6. Superior: Jesse Aguilar
7. St. David: Shane Bradford

Defensive Player of the Year:

Orme: Metehan Akcam

Region Players of the Year:

West: Valley Lutheran: Matt Gabrielson
East: Gibert Christian: Dillion Currior
South: St. Gregory: Frank Mgbolu
North: St. Michaels: Kurtis Silversmith

1A Overall Player of the Year:

St. Michaels: Kurtis Silversmith


Coach of the Year: Gilbert Christian: Steve Currier

Hello 1A Sports Fans!!!

Today we are announcing our 1A Girls All-State Team for the 2009-2010 basketball season. I wanted to explain how we do our all-state team so that you can understand why it is not only different in our opinion, but we feel it is the best around for obvious reasons. being a coach for 25+ years I have always believed the following:

1. Each classification should have their own All-state Players without being linked to the other classifications.

2. Basketball teams should consist of 1st and 2nd teams.

3. Basketball teams should have 10 players for 1st and 2nd teams. My reasoning is how many teams do you see around that only use 5 players? Even if you do have a few teams the best team usually is a team that has 10 players where you have depth to rotate in and out of the game. Thus we select the top 10.

4. We do include honorable mention but our honorable mention is not just players we throw in. The honorable mention is a spot for those who make the cut from one level to the next for us. We do not throw 20 names out just to mention them.
5. A committee of coaches and other very credible sources are involved in the process. But mainly coaches who are active and retired select players.

6. Personally I do an in depth look at all teams thru video, phone calls and actual watching of players. We feel with our rankings and great coverage across the state that we get most players who deserve these awards.

7. This year we have included our 9th grade phenom team. WE did switch things around but we looked at overall games played and how much playing time plus stats they accumulated, plus their overall contribution to a team.

8. Our Coach of the Year Award is not just blindly thrown out to conference or state championship winners. We are looking for the coach who has done the best job in all areas. Sometimes that is a coach who wins it all but also that coach who did the best in changing their team around from previous years as well.

9. Player of the Year: WE select a player of the year by the fans from each conference. Then a selection is made based on the OVERALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR in each classification.

10. We strongly believe all-state players can be from non-playoff or non-winning teams. The facts prove that although success as a team is important, there are some players who fit all-state caliber but do not have the supporting players to make staff. We make sure we do not overlook those players.

Here is a list of the selections. WE will also have a spot on our website with pictures, stats and videos as well throughout the week: Please remember the top 5 are those who we feel would be the starting lineup

1. Gila Bend: Ashley Wirtzberger
2. Gila Bend: Alex Wirtzberger
3. Salt River: Mikki Ramirez
4. Salt River: Monique Newton
5. Salome:Taylor Maynes
6. Rock Point: Chelsea R. Begay
7. Patagonia: Sheila Oliver
8. FT: Laiken Molina
9. Seligmen: Shae Alvirez
10. St. Mikes: Mariah Begay

1A 2nd Team All-State:

1. Salt River: Britney Hanna
2. Gilbert Christian: Annie Pinkerton
3. Ft. Thomas: Nakia Moses
4. Valley Lutheran: Emily Ehles
5. Valley Union: Gwen Murphy
6. Grand Canyon: Tiffany Kerr
7. Joy Christian: Alana Kempf
8. Duncan: Ashlin Merrell
9. St. David: Kayla Carpenter
10. GB: Genesis Fernandez

Freshman Phenom All-State team:

1. Patagonia: Amanda Gamez
2. Clifton: Julia Chavarria
3. Patagonia: Crianna Padilla
4. Salt River: Gabby Ramirez
5. Joy Christian: Mariah Kempf

6. Salome: Tracy Edmonds
7. Greenfields: Olivia Snyder
8. Northland prep: Morgan Horn
9. Valley Lutheran: Jennifer Butzbach
10. Joe City: Lexi Edwards

Defensive Player of the Year:

Gila Bend: Ashley Wirtzberger

Region Players of the Year:

West: Salome:Taylor Maynes
East: Salt River: Monique Newton
South: Gila Bend: Ashley Wirtzberger
North: Rock Point: Chelsea R. Begay

1A Overall Player of the Year:

South: Gila Bend: Ashley Wirtzberger

Coach of the Year: Patagonia: Ralph Padilla

Hello baseball fans!

Day 2 of the 23rd Annual Joe S. Padilla Florence Baseball Tournament is over and what an exciting day of baseball!

Thursday Results:
Empire 18 Superior 7
Tombstone 16 Patagonia 0 5innings

#11 Empire 18 #6 Superior 7

Game 2 between Empire and Superior started off fairly close. However, Fox from Superior had Elder on the ropes and eventually had a 3-2 count but he would dish up a pitch right at his sweet spot and Elder took it deep for a 2 run shot that would give Empire the early lead in the game.
Superior had chances as B. Williams had some control issues and had 3 walks in the first but the Panthers could not get the timely hit to break thru for any runs. Later in the game Superior would tie it up at 2 but that was as close as they would get as D. Williams matched Elder with a 2 shot dinger of his own to give Empire the lead for good as the Ravens show why they have the power to make a run for the South division with 18 runs for the day.

Delgado from Superior and D. Williams from Empire were named the AZSports Players of the game. B. Williams got the win for Empire and Fox got the loss for Superior.

Day 1 of the 23rd Annual Joe S. Padilla Florence Baseball Tournament is over and what an exciting day of baseball! The reason I love this tournament is because you never know what to expect.

Lets take a look at Superior:

#5 Florence 4 #6 Superior 1

Our nightcap game featured 2 top ranked teams from their respective divisions. Florence who is ranked #5 in 3A and Superior who is ranked #6 in 1A showed why they are ranked so high.

The Gophers threw Marrufo, who had 6 K's in the first 2 innings and 8 for the game as he totally dominated the Panthers who could not adjust to his fast-ball or breaking pitches all night. Marrufo showed us why he will be one of many pitchers from Florence who will help lead them to the playoffs for the 2010 season.

On the other side Superior threw their ace, Ortega, who also showed he will be a forced in the 1A division this year. With a nice fast-ball, and a breaking pitch that will buckle the hitters at the knees, he was able to keep the 1A Panthers in the game. If not for errors this game could have been 0-0 going into the 5th as the Gophers timing was a bit off since they had not played this season.

One of the areas that Florence shines is with their tremendous power from 1-9 in the batting order. The Gophers have so much talent that any pitcher facing them this season will have to deal with a top hitter at every single spot. They have so much depth that even the players off of the bench come in and have a chance to hurt you as well.

With strong contact the Gophers were able to get 4 runs vs Superior, who showed much improvement on the defensive side of the ball. Last year you were on the edge of your seat with any ball that was put into play because the focus and fundamentals of the Panthers were their Achilles Heel. But this year the Panthers have shown their focus and fundamentals have changed and they are ready to have a great tournament and move on to a possible state championship in 2010!

Marrufo who was on a strict pitch count went 4 innings and not allowing any runs with 8 strikeouts for his effort. Murphy came in relief for Marrufo in the 5th.

Ortega for Superior and Marrufo for Florence were named AZSports Players of the Game for their pitching efforts.

#4 TV14-3 over #11 St. Augustine:

IN an early match-up from top teams in the 1A South TV defeated St. Augustine 14-3 in 7 innings. WE have to look at what this means in the scheme of things: 1st TV is still a ways ahead of the THE TEAMS who are in the 2nd tier of the South, but St. Augustine is definitely closing the gap.

Valley Lutheran 9 PCDS 8:

We mentioned that this was a good early test for our top ranked VL team and we were not wrong! VL was down 6-2 and scored 7 runs in top of the 7th to get the 9-8 win! This is an example of why we have this team at the top spot in 1A. PCDS is not a bad 2A team. They traditionally have one stud pitcher who can beat any top team at the 2A or other levels. Thanks to sundevil for this report from the VL game.

Patagonia 11 San Miguel 4:

Need to give some kudos to the Lobos for getting a win in their season opener. Coach Spencer gets his first win which we hope is many to come during the rest of the season.

Softball:

St. Augustine 14 TV 2:

The machine we know as Brink continues to show us why she is one of the top pitchers not only in 1A but in all classifications.