Wake Forest-Rolesville is the top-ranked softball team in the N&O area and starts postseason play this Friday against Lee County in the 4A N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs. Undefeated South Granville hosts Providence Grove in 2A softball.

The format has changed in this year's playoffs. Now, instead of the four state semifinalists advancing to a double-elimination, four-team tournament to decide a state title, the semifinals and finals will each be a best-of-three and held on separate weeks. It's currently how the NCHSAA baseball playoffs operate.

Holly Springs, last year's 4A East champ, opens at home with Northern Durham. The 4A East runner-up, Clayton, is at Wilmington Ashley.

The Hilltop Invitational, the Triangle's largest spring break baseball tournament, begins Thursday and uses the fields at East Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, Orange and Cedar Ridge high schools to host two eight-team tournaments.

The "American Division" is hosted by East Chapel Hill and Orange and features Cary, East Chapel Hill, East Forsyth, South Granville, Burlington Williams, Granville Central, Maury (Va.) and Orange.

The "National Division" is hosted by Chapel Hill and Cedar Ridge and features Cardinal Gibbons, Durham Jordan, Surry Central, Cedar Ridge, Southern Alamance, Kernersville Glenn, Tallmadge (Ohio) and Chapel Hill.

The Carolina-12 Conference, which has both 1A and 2A members, splits its post-season basketball tournament by classification.

Northwood's boys were upset by Carrboro in the 2A tournament final, while the Northwood girls defeated host Granville Central.

Roxboro Community's boys thwarted a Cinderalla run by Franklin Academy in the 1A final, while River Mill's girls defeated Franklin Academy in the other final played at Durham's Voyager Academy.

Here is the N&O story from the 2A tournament.

Hillside's Jamal Marcus, East Chapel Hill's Alex Moore, South Granville's Matthew Fuhr and Millbrook's Keith Marshall have been named to the North Carolina all-state high school football team by The Associated Press.

See the full team below:

Three rounds down, three more to go.

The NCHSAA volleyball playoffs are in the fourth round this Saturday, with each bracket down to eight teams in all and just four on the eastern half of the bracket.

We've posted what's left of the 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A East brackets below. The host team is on top.

Who's still alive? Green Hope, Riverside, Cardinal Gibbons, Chapel Hill, South Granville, N.C. Science & Math and Princeton.

The third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association volleyball playoffs will be played Thursday night. Below show who is left in the 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A East brackets. In cases where teams have the same seed from different conferences, we've placed the host team on top.

There are several intriguing match-ups left in each area.

By week's end, we'll be down to four teams in each classification for the softball playoffs. Each class' final four teams move to next week's state championships at Walnut Creek as part of a double-elimination tournament.

The regional semifinals are Tuesday. Winners will play against each other in a best-of-three series starting on Thursday for the regional titles. The state championships are next weekend, with two of the classes playing a best-of-three series at Five County Stadium and the other two at N.C. State's Doak Field.

In 4-A: Wilmington Laney at West Johnston; Clayton at Fayetteville Britt; Garner at Scotland; Northern Durham travels to Holly Springs; Apex is at Wake Forest-Rolesville; Leesville Road is at Person; Riverside is at Fuquay-Varina
 

In case you missed it in today's N&O story by Tim Stevens, Warren County and South Granville are among four boys basketball teams who have been banned from this year's NCHSAA playoffs for fighting.