When the baseball season began, Coppell was the area's team to beat. One round into the playoffs, Coppell has been beaten. And so has one of the area's other top teams: Colleyville Heritage.

"Once you get these playoffs started," Grapevine coach Tim McCune said, "you never know what's going to happen."

That certainly seems to be true in baseball. It might be the only way to explain how area schools, which have dominated the state in several sports, haven't hoisted many UIL baseball trophies since 2002.

Only one team has hoisted a trophy. That was Plano West, which ended a five-season drought for local teams by winning last year's 5A title. Plano West beat Southlake Carroll in the first matchup of local teams in a UIL state title game since 1997.

Two area teams in the 5A title game, combined with 4A runner-up Waxahachie, eased the grip South Texas teams have had on the state baseball tournament. Could it be the start of a new trend?

Judging by the state coaches' rankings, no. The final regular-season state 5A poll didn't include an area team, and the 4A poll only had two: Mesquite Poteet (sixth) and Fort Worth Southwest (eighth). The final two teams in the 3A top ten were Celina and Kennedale.

But rankings aren't always a good barometer of postseason success. Coppell and Colleyville Heritage were the top two teams in the 5A area rankings for much of the season. After one round of the playoffs, they're done.

Hopefully, however, area teams won't be done when it's time for the state tournament.

In the last 40 years, only five teams from North Texas have won baseball championships in the state's largest classification (4A through 1981, 5A since then). Duncanville won in 1975, '76 and '90, Martin won in '93 and Plano West last season. From 1994 to 2007, teams from Lubbock, Round Rock, Midland and Corpus Christi won 5A titles. The other 10 winners were from the Houston area.

"For years, Houston was kind of the hotbed for baseball talent," McCune said. "The Metroplex has really caught up over the last 15 to 20 years."

That hasn't always shown in the state tournament. In 2006 and '07, no 5A team from the area made it to state. The area has done better in 4A, with six champions since 1995, but baseball is one sport in which North Texas teams aren't running out front.

The excellent select baseball programs in the Houston area could be a reason. After all, North Texas teams have won nine of the last 12 UIL soccer titles, and select programs are often cited as the reason for the dominance.

But Dallas-area select baseball teams are also very good, and there seems to be plenty of talent. So it's hard to find an explanation.

"I haven't really thought about it," said McCune, whose team beat Coppell in the first round. "I just think it goes in cycles."

If so, North Texas has a lot of baseball titles coming its way.