GLENDALE, Ariz. – Only one-half inning into its quarterfinal-round playoff game at the Perfect Game Underclass Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form on Sunday afternoon, No. 1-seeded GBG Marucci 2020 Navy found itself in unfamiliar territory: it was trailing on the scoreboard for the first time in three days.

But by the time two innings were in the books, the 2020 Navy had righted themselves against No. 9 MountainWest Baseball, went on to a 7-4 victory and will once again play in Monday’s semifinal-round at the 10^th annual PG Fall National.

After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, the GBG 2020 Navy scored a single run in the bottom of the first and six in the second, and that was that. Normalcy returned to PG tournament national championship play, Arizona-style.

In fact, the playoffs’ first and quarterfinal rounds – the games were played at the Camelback Ranch MLB spring training complex – went pretty much according to chalk as far as the seedings were concerned, with three “upsets” in the six first-round contests and only one in the four quarterfinal games.

So, with the semis set to be played Monday morning at the Surprise Stadium Complex (spring training home of the Rangers and Royals) the pairings have No. 4 Arizona-based AZ T-Rex Easton (5-0-0) taking on No. 1 California-based GBG Marucci 2020 Navy (4-0-0) and the No. 14 Cali-based San Diego Show (4-1-0) challenging No. 2 Washington-based GBG Marucci Northwest (4-0-0).

AZ T-Rex Easton beat the No. 13 Slammers-Jenkins (Colorado) in the first-round of the playoffs and then clubbed the No. 13 CBA Bulldogs (California) in the quarters. The Show were the reason the final-four wasn’t completely chalk when they dumped No. 3 Athletic Edge (California) in the first-round and then kept it going with a win over the No. 6 So Cal Birds (California) in the quarters. GBG Marucci NW received a first-round bye and then topped the No. 7 Southwest Nationals (Arizona) in the quarters.

The GBG 2020 Navy earned the playoffs’ No. 1-seed and the first-round bye that came with it by outscoring its three pool-play opponents by a combined 20-1. That left program founder and head coach Mike Garciaparra feeling pretty good about his team as bracket-play got underway.

“We only gave up one run, so obviously the pitching and defense was pretty good,” he said. “Pitching and defense are the things that get you through any of these games, and we kept the pitch-counts pretty low so we have a bunch of fresh arms. …

“And then we had some clutch hits, although the bats haven’t come around like they could, so like I said the pitching and defense has just been really good for us so far.”

There is simply no denying that this GBG Marucci 2020 Navy was built for success, and the guys who make up each movable part are very good at what at they do. Very good, in fact, at working with a certain symmetry that results in all things positive.

Garciaparra used 18 players – 16 of them from California – either on the mound, in the field or at the plate in the three pool-play wins. Fourteen of them are 2020 prospects ranked in the top-500 nationally, seven of those are ranked in the top-240 and 10 have committed to NCAA Division-I schools/programs.

The lone 2021 gracing the roster is the dynamic and charismatic outfielder/catcher/middle-infielder Roc Riggio, a UCLA commit ranked No. 5 in his class and an alumnus of the 2017 PG Select Baseball Festival.

The most highly ranked 2020 is shortstop Daylen Reyes, another UCLA commit who comes in at No. 76. Other top dogs include catcher/outfielder Kevin Parada (No. 133, Georgia Tech); Reno, Nev., right-hander/corner-infielder Jadon Bercovich (No. 176); Leander, Texas, outfielder/first baseman Dalton Porter (No. 206, Texas); middle-infielder Devan Ornelas (No. 227, Texas Christian) and third baseman/outfielder Carter Graham (No. 240, Stanford). That sort of depth can’t be underestimated.

“It’s hot out here, people get hurt and people have to kind of step up when you need them and I think we have that kind of depth,” Garciaparra said. “If one guy is in a little bit of a slump, we have another third baseman, another shortstop, another outfielder that we can plug right in.

“I told them we have about 20 guys on this roster and it’s going to take all of guys to win this thing … so, everybody is going to need to be ready at any time.”

The 2020 Navy faced an interesting quarterfinal opponent in Utah-based MountainWest Baseball (4-1-0). The squad was the playoffs’ No. 9 seed after outscoring its pool-play foes 23-11 and then proceeded to blow No. 8 Team Avenue Baseball (California) out of the water by a 13-0 count in the first round.

Those totals meant that MountainWest was averaging nine runs a game when it faced-off against GBG 2020 Navy in the quarters.

“We’ve been swinging it really well and we’ve been throwing a lot of strikes,” MountainWest head coach Kavin Keyes told PG pregame. “We’ve been battling through and trying to get everyone some innings. … They’ve been together as a team for two years now so they’ve been playing together pretty well. This lineup one-though-nine is pretty good.

“We have some kids that really haven’t been noticed yet but we’re just starting to get into it,” he added. “For a couple of them, this is their first Perfect Game experience, they’re just getting their feet wet and just getting adjusted.”

MountainWest Baseball was led this weekend by 2020s Brayden Taylor and Kai Roberts, both listed as “follows” in the PG prospect rankings, and who have committed to Texas Christian and Utah, respectively. Other key contributors included 2020s Kyle Hoffman and Chase Higgenson.

Garciaparra has known this 2020 team was special for some time now, especially after it advanced to the semifinals at the PG 15u and 16u WWBA National Championships in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

It’s a team that wants to compete in as many of the biggest PG national tournaments that it possibly can and it’s a close-knit group to boot. The Southern California connection that exists between the players provides an extra shot of energy and emotion, simply because they know each other so well from their experiences with their high school seasons; seven of the players are juniors at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

The GBG organization won PG Underclass Fall national championships in 2012 (GBG Yak) and 2014 (GBG Marucci Navy) so Garciaparra knows what will be required of this team if it hopes to add a third trophy to its figurative mantle.

“We need to keep throwing strikes and then show some energy,” he said. “Sometimes you can get a little lackadaisical in pool-play and (other teams) take advantage of it; you can’t take a pitch off in the playoffs and one pitch can change a game.

“I’m going to really expect them to not take a pitch off (both) offensively and defensively and if they do that I think they have really good chance of getting there in the end.”

There are three other teams still standing that are determined to keep that from happening.