After winning its final three games to lock up a postseason spot, Mead is among the state’s deep sleepers aiming to surprise at one of the regional softball tournaments this weekend.

The Mavericks are ranked 24th in Class 4A after beating No. 14 Niwot by 10 runs in their regular-season finale. An underdog to get out of 4A Region 8, they may have some built-in confidence in a grouping lead by No. 8 Roosevelt, which they lost to by just a single run in their early-September meeting.

The top two teams from each 5A, 4A and 3A regional will advance to one of the three state tournaments at Aurora Sports Park on Oct. 25-26. The 5A and 4A qualifiers will be decided in the region’s championship and consolation game. The 3A regionals are in a single-elimination format, with the winner and runner-up both advancing.

Here are a couple sleepers from each classification.

Class 5A

No. 32 Pine Creek: The Eagles (13-10) were the final team to make the 5A regional field after winning their last four games.

Getting hot at the right time of the year, they won their last four games by an average of 10 runs.

They’ll open their postseason run Friday against No. 1 Cherokee Trail, which lost to No. 2 Broomfield in its regular-season finale.

No. 21 Brighton: The Bulldogs (16-7) won seven straight before falling to No. 6 Riverdale Ridge in their regular-season finale.

Much of their postseason hopes figures to lie on the shoulders of ace Brooke Johnson, who owns a 2.33 ERA through 108 innings this fall.

In a regional hosted by No. 5 Legend, they open against No. 12 Erie on Friday.

Class 4A

No. 23 Discovery Canyon: The Thunder (11-12) are playing their best softball as they finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak.

During it, they beat No. 3 Pueblo County, No. 7 Pueblo Central and No. 16 Cheyenne Mountain. At the center was sophomore Bella Holcomb, who homered twice and won two decisions in the circle.

They’re in Central’s regional and their first game is against No. 10 Severance on Friday.

No. 24 Mead: The Mavericks (12-11) have an offense that can keep up with most teams, averaging 12 runs per game.

Leading the way, Nikki Ward, Halie Gippe and Adisyn Rademacher each have three home runs and are batting over .475. Gippe has eight hits in her last 11 at-bats.

They open against No. 9 Elizabeth on Saturday.

Class 3A

No. 22 Meeker: Though just 4-2 over their final six games, the Cowboys (11-11) scored 106 runs across those games.

So, now, they’ll look to slug their way out of Rocky Ford’s regional this weekend, starting with No. 11 The Classical Academy.

Senior Miah Wren leads the way for them, hitting .526 with 15 extra-base hits and 22 RBIs.

No. 18 Gunnison: The Cowboys (13-10) won their final eight games of the season.

While they have a tough road in a regional hosted by No. 2 Strasburg, a team it lost to 13-3 in August, they come in with one of the hottest offenses in the state. They’ve averaged 16 runs per game during their eight straight wins.

They open against No. 15 Resurrection Christian on Friday.