THE POWER RANKINGS: Chaparrals charge to top of Austin area baseball poll

For those who love parity in sports, there is no game better than baseball. A hot pitcher here, a tricky bounce there and enough good players who can make enough of the routine plays gives any decent team a chance to knock off a favorite. All of which explains why polling in baseball – and particularly high school baseball – is nothing more than intriguing thought exercise.

But we like to do it anyway. Especially since teams moved up and down this week’s Power Rankings as if they were joy riding the Frost Bank Building elevator. And at the end of a wild week, it was Westlake – the safest choice after two shutouts over Akins – that climbed atop the poll.