13u End of Fall Recap 2019

The SBA Futures finished the 2018-2019 12u season as the #1 team in this age group, and they finished off the fall 2019 season in the same spot. They have shown they are willing to travel anywhere and play anyone, but the gap between the Futures and the rest of the top of the age group is small. Hopefully we'll see some more competition between the top teams in this age group this spring.

 

  1. SBA Futures

    The SBA Futures finished off the fall in the #1 spot, a position they are all too familiar with.

    The Futures continue to be the class of this age group, finishing 15-5 this fall and topping our end-of-fall ranking. They had a number of outstanding wins including victories over 6 ranked teams from North Carolina including #2 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #5 Mission Vipers Gold, #8 NC Saints, #9 Dirtbags Legends (x2), and #12 Rock Solid Red. They also had a win over the Gulf Coast Monarchs (FL), who finished #3 in Perfect Game's national top 100 this past summer, as well as 3 wins over 14u teams this fall. Of their 5 losses, only one came against an in-state 13u team in Mission Vipers Gold. There other losses came against a 14u team, Kangaroo Court (FL), who finished 31st in Perfect Game's national top 100 last year, the 19-6-3 Florida Heat, and Gatorball (FL), who finished 13-7-1 this fall.

  2. Canes Baseball NC - Simpson
    The Canes are just behind the Futures this fall after finishing with a 15-4-1 record. They posted several wins over ranked teams including victories over #9 Dirtbags Legends, SC #1 Rawlings Stars National, and SC #4 Carolina Bomb Squad. Of their 4 losses, one came against #1 SBA Futures with another coming at the hands of #8 NC Saints. It should be a lot of fun to watch the Canes continue to battle with SBA Futures as well as the rest of the 13u age group for the #1 spot this spring.
  3. Five Star Carolina Champions
    Five Star Carolina Champions was a new team in this age group this fall, made up of players from a variety of teams within this age group. They wasted little time in making their mark on this age group, going 15-3-1 this fall. They had 5 wins over other ranked teams including wins over #4 Canes Baseball Eastern NC, #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee, #11 Carolina Rockies Gold, and #20 South Charlotte Braves. They had two losses against ranked opponents including #2 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson and #16 SBA Patriots Black.
  4. Canes Baseball Eastern NC
    Canes Baseball Eastern NC has been one of the better teams in this age group for years. This fall they were a bit difficult to figure out the right place in our rankings, as they only played 10 games, going 5-5 overall and 5-3 against 13u teams. At first glance that does not appear to be the resume of a top 5 team. However they had an impressive run at the Perfect Game Virginia Super 25 qualifier, scoring wins over an excellent Nova Vipers team who finished 11-7-1 this fall, and a quality Richmond Braves - Gregory team. Their only loss in that came against one of the best teams in region in a 1-run loss against Virginia Venom Dirty South National. Nevertheless, we'd admit we gave the Canes the benefit of the doubt this fall and they'll have some work to do in the spring to keep their spot this high in the rankings.
  5. Mission Vipers Gold
    The Vipers finished off the fall with an overall record of 14-4. This included an exceptional 9 wins over ranked opponents (#1 SBA Futures, #7 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, #8 NC Saints [x2], #9 Dirtbags Legends, #10 Five Star Carolina WNC, #12 Carolina Rockies Gold, and #16 SBA Patriots Black). All 4 of their losses came against ranked foes as well including the SBA Futures, Dirtbags Legends, Five Star Carolina WNC, and Carolina Rockies Gold. This is perhaps the ranking we feel strongest that we got wrong this fall and we expect the Vipers to move up this spring as they continue to perform against the best competition.

 

 

  1. Concord Athletics - Barbee
    Concord Athletics were a newcomer to our rankings in this age group this fall, but they were well-deserving of their recognition. They ran off an outstanding 17-1 overall record this fall. Their only loss came against #3 Five Star Carolina Champions. Along the way they scored wins over  #8 NC Saints (x2), #9 Dirtbags Legends, #14 LKN Hurricanes, #15 LBC Attack, and #16 SBA Patriots Black to support their inclusion in our top 10 this fall.
  2. Five Star Carolina - Neyra
    Five Star Carolina - Neyra were another team who has been exceptional within this age group for years, but was definitely to feel we could accurately rank this fall due to a bit of a smaller game schedule in the fall season. Overall Five Star - Neyra posted a 9-3 record this fall. They posted a win over #4 Canes Baseball Eastern NC as well as 4 wins over 14u teams. They also had losses against #5 Mission Vipers Gold, SC #1 Rawlings Stars National, and EBC - Johnson (TN) who are currently ranked #1 in the state of Tennessee in USSSA's 13u Majors Tennessee state rankings.
  3. NC Saints
    The Saints were one of those teams who impressed us all fall, going 15-5 overall. They notched wins over #2 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson and #19 Carolina Renegades to highlight their fall season. In addition, of their 5 losses, all came against ranked opponents including one to #1 SBA Futures, two against #5 Mission Vipers Gold, and two against #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee. For the spring, the Saints will be combining with the Carolina Astros to form Five Star Carolina - Queler so we'd expect more big things from this group in 2020.
  4. Dirtbags Legends
    The Dirtbags finished with a 12-8 overall record across 20 games this fall. This included wins over #5 Mission Vipers Gold, #11 Carolina Rockies Gold, #14 LKN Hurricanes, and Dirtbags National Prospects, who are one of the best teams from Tennessee. All of their losses came against ranked teams demonstrating the strength of their schedule. This included losses against #1 SBA Futures (x2), #2 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, Mission Vipers Gold, #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee, Carolina Rockies Gold, as well as SC #2 Carolina Bruins and SC #5 Greenwood Emeralds Green.
  5. Five Star WNC
    As best we can tell, Five Star WNC went 6-3 this fall season. This included wins over #5 Mission Vipers Gold and #14 LKN Hurricanes. All 3 of their losses came against ranked teams as well, including two against Mission Vipers Gold and one against the LKN Hurricanes.

 

 

  1. Carolina Rockies Gold
    Carolina Rockies Gold were another of the pleasant surprises this fall, going 17-4 overall. They notched wins over #5 Mission Vipers Gold and #9 Dirtbags Legends to prove they belong among the top teams in our rankings. Of their 4 losses, 3 came against top ten teams including a loss to Mission Vipers Gold, one to #3 Five Star Carolina Champions, and one against Dirtbags Legends.
  2. Rock Solid Red
    Rock Solid Red posted an overall record of 11-4 this fall. Among their victories, Rock Solid notched a win over #18 Carolina Rage as well as a win over 14u competition. Of their 4 losses, one came to #2 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, one came against SC #2 Carolina Bruins, with yet another coming against 14u competition.
  3. Team Ghost
    Team Ghost finished a nearly unbelievable 32-1 this fall across 33 total games. The question, then, is obvious: how in the world are these guys ranked 13th with that kind of a record? The first consideration is that Team Ghost played all of their games at the 54/80 distances. This is distinct from the teams above them and the top competition in the 13u age group who competed at the 60/90 distance. Second, Team Ghost did beat or even play any other teams in our current top 20 so it's a bit difficult to feel we can accurately gauge where they fit. They did have a win over 12u #2 Canes Baseball NC - Foster. It appears Team Ghost will be making the jump to 60/90 this spring so it shouldn't take long to figure out just how good these guys really are.
  4. LKN Hurricanes
    The Hurricanes finished the fall with an overall record of 15-6-1. Their season was highlighted by a win over #10 Five Star Carolina WNC. 4 of their losses came against ranked teams, including losses to #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee, #9 Dirtbags Legends, Five Star Carolina WNC, and #15 LBC Attack. With a 1-4 overall record against top 14 teams, we didn't feel we could move the Hurricanes much higher in our rankings, however the Hurricanes could easily move up with some results against ranked competition in the spring.
  5. LBC Attack
    The LBC Attack posted an excellent 16-2 record this fall. They played a total of 2 games against ranked competition, going 1-1 with a win over #14 LKN Hurricanes and a loss against #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee. With some increased competition against ranked opponents, we expect to get a better handle on where the Attack fit in our top 20.

 

 

  1. SBA Patriots Black
    SBA Patriots finished the fall with an overall record of 17-5. They had one win over a ranked team, scoring a victory over #3 Five Star Carolina Champions. Of their 5 losses, 4 came against ranked teams including #4 Canes Baseball Eastern NC, #5 Mission Vipers Gold, #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee, and #20 South Charlotte Braves.
  2. Carolina Titans Blue
    Carolina Titans Blue posted an 11-5-1 record this past fall. They were 1-2 overall against ranked teams, with all 3 games coming against #18 Carolina Rage. They also had nice wins over 14-8-1 Virginia Stars - Justice and 17-6-1 Tidewater Rock Solid Drillers - Conroy (VA).
  3. Carolina Rage
    The Rage had an overall record of 18-8 this fall. The Rage had two wins over ranked teams, both of which came against #17 Carolina Titans Blue. In addition, they had 2 losses against ranked opponents (#12 Rock Solid Red and Carolina Titans Blue) to finish 2-2 overall against other top 20 teams.
  4. Carolina Renegades
    The Renegades were a remarkable 16-3 overall this fall. Although they did not have any wins against ranked opponents, they did have losses against #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee and #8 NC Saints. They also had wins over Mountain Region #3 Diamond Mine and #4 Statesville Sluggers to highlight their fall season.
  5. South Charlotte Braves
    The Braves finished off the fall with a 12-4-1 record. They had one win over a ranked team, scoring a win over #16 SBA Patriots Black. In addition, two of their four losses came against #3 Five Star Carolina Champions for a total of 3 of their 17 games against ranked competition. This is another team we can see moving up the rankings with some more results against ranked competition this spring.