9u End of Season Rankings Recap 2018-2019

The 9u age group saw two teams, SBA Premier and Dirtbags Black, really separate themselves as perhaps the two best teams in North Carolina this fall. Beyond those two, there were some surprises as well as strong performances by teams who were highly ranked as 8u teams. Here we provide a recap and rationale for our final 9u rankings this fall.

1. SBA Futures

   The 9u age group turned out to be a runaway for the top spot with the SBA Futures dominating the age group this past year. They went 58-14-1 overall this past year, including 41-9-1 this past spring. They scored tournament wins at both the Fall and Spring USSSA Beast of the East Super NITs, and of their 14 losses only 4 came against 9u competition. It gets even more impressive than that: 2 of their losses came against the team who finished #1 in the USSSA 9u Majors National Power Rankings (Traction Canes Black; LA) with their other two 9u losses coming to teams who finished 27th (Line Drive Black; GA) and 56th (Chet Lemon's Juice Corns Jr.; FL) in USSSA's National Power Rankings. They notched wins over teams ranked 1st Traction Canes Black), 13th (Hollywood Heat; FL), 19th Motor City Hit Dogs - Hammond; MI [x2]), 40th (Smithville Scrappers; IN), 58th (Gem City Throwbacks; OH), and 60th (Elite Squad; FL) in the final USSSA 9u Majors National Power Rankings. They also notched wins our North Carolina #3 Dirtbags Black (x3), #4 Five Star Carolina - Young, #8 East Rowan (x2), #9 Triple Crown Lookouts, #12 LBC Vipers (x4), and #17 Ultimate Performance Black Sox. Needless to say, this was one of the more impressive performances by any team in any age group this past year.

2. Canes Baseball NC - Harris

   The Canes have been one of the top teams in North Carolina in this age group since they were 8's, finishing #3 in our final rankings last year. They finished 35-7 this spring and 46-12 overall this past year. They notched 14 wins over top 20 teams from North Carolina including a 2-2 record against #3 Dirtbags Black, wins over #4 Five Star Carolina - Young, #5 HPT HiToms (x2), #6 West Raleigh Blue (x2), #7 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik (x3), #8 East Rowan, #14 East Coast Elite, and #20 NCDB Rivercats (x2). It was a tight race for #2 between the Canes and Dirtbags Black. In the end, we viewed the Canes' title at the Top Gun Summer World Series that included two wins over Dirtbags Black as the deciding factor to separate these two great teams.

3. Dirtbags Black

   The Dirtbags were neck-and-neck with Canes Baseball NC - Harris all year, posting a 34-7-1 record this spring, and a 58-9-1 overall record this past year. They went 6-3-1 at the USSSA DeMarini Elite World Series in Florida, including wins over teams who finished #8 (American Force 9, TX), #56 (Chet Lemon's Juice Corns Jr.; FL). and #60 (Elite Squad; FL). Two of their three losses at the DeMarini came against eventual champion, national #5 MVP Hustle - Ruiz. In total, the Dirtbags notched 15 wins over top 20 teams from North Carolina, including #2 Canes Baseball NC - Harris (x2), #5 HPT HiToms (x2), #6 West Raleigh Blue (x2), #8 East Rowan, #9 Triple Crown Lookouts, #14 East Coast Elite (x2), and #20 NCDB Rivercats (x2). Of their 4 losses to in-state 9u teams, two came against #1 SBA Premier, and two came against #2 Canes Baseball NC - Harris. As noted above, it was very difficult to separate the Canes from the Dirtbags and in truth, a solid argument could be made for either team getting the #2 spot. As we noted above, we felt the more recent two wins for the Canes over the Dirtbags as well as the Top Gun Summer World Series title for the Canes was the deciding factor for us.

4. Five Star Carolina - Young

   Five Star Carolina - Young went 30-7 this past spring and 49-13 overall this past year. Among the 46 wins, Five Star notched 16 wins over top 20 teams, including 2 wins over #5 HPT HiToms as well as wins over #7 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik (x4), #10 Summerfield Stars (x2), #11 NC Rogue (x7), and #13 Carolina Rockies. Impressively, Five Star won their last 11 games of the spring season, dating back to late May. This stretch included 6 wins against top 10 teams and was part of a run win which Five Star won their last 18 games of the spring campaign. It was a tough decision between the HPT HiToms and Five Star for the #4 spot as they HiToms held a 3-2 advantage in head-to-head competition between the two, but we felt this 18 game run pushed Five Star over the HiToms into the #4 spot.

5. HPT HiToms

   The HPT HiToms were one of the top performing teams in the 9u age group this past year, going 28-14 this spring and 53-18-1 overall. They had 15 total wins over top 20 teams. This included wins over #6 West Raleigh Blue, #9 Triple Crown Lookouts, #10 Summerfield Stars (x4), #11 NC Rogue (x3), #12 LBC Vipers, #13 Carolina Rockies, #16 Asheville Braves, #17 Ultimate Performance Black Sox (x2), and #19 Belmont Bandits. Of their 18 losses, 6 came against 10u competition, with another 11 coming against ranked teams.