County Baseball, Softball Teams Looking Strong in State Rankings

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Heading into next week's Western Massachusetts regional tournaments, four Berkshire County teams are positioned to have home field advantage through the quarter-finals of next month's state tournaments.
 
On Thursday morning, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association released the latest power rankings based on data received by the state association as of 4 a.m. Thursday morning.
 
Based on scores that have been reported, four county teams are in the top four of their respective brackets.
 
Currently, the Wahconah softball team and Taconic baseball team each are ranked third in Divisions 4 and 3, respectively.
 
In D5, the Mount Greylock baseball and softball teams each are ranked fourth in the state.
 
All the state tournament contenders in baseball and softball have at least two more regular season games ahead of them.
 
For most of them, that means a quarter-final and -- if they win -- a semi-final matchup in the District 1 regional tournament. The District 1, or Western Mass, finals do not count toward the MIAA regular season for state tournament seeding purposes.
 
Teams that lose in the quarter-finals (or who don't end up with a spot in the eight-team Western Mass tournaments) will be matched up by the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference with a game or two to fill out their schedules.
 
In addition to the aforementioned top-four teams in their classes, one county team, the Hoosac Valley softball team, currently is ranked eighth in its division, D5.
 
If the current rankings hold up, a number of county teams also are in line for a home game in the 32-team state tournaments that will get underway after Memorial Day. Teams finishing in the top 16 are home in the round of 32.
 
Rankings as of Thursday morning also include:
 
Division 5 softball: No. 11 Taconic, No. 21 Drury, No. 26 Lee, No. 38 Mount Everett.
 
Division 4 softball: No. 35 Monument Mountain.
 
Division 3 softball: No. 13 Pittsfield.
 
Division 5 baseball: No. 24 Mount Everett, No. 27 McCann Tech, No. 31 Lenox, No. 42 Lee.
 
Division 4 baseball: No. 11 Monument Mountain, No. 31 Wahconah.
 
Division 3 baseball: No. 28 Pittsfield.
 
Teams with a .500 record, like the Monument Mountain softball team (11-6 heading to the Western Mass tourney) will make the state tournament even if they do not finish ranked in the top 32; they would end up in a preliminary or play-in round.
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