For better or for worse, the youth baseball circuit in North Carolina is dominated by three organizations: NC GameOn Sports, Top Gun Sports, and USSSA. These 3 organizations host the largest quantity of tournaments across the state and regularly attract the most amount of teams. Triple Crown Sports also hosts a single event in North Carolina, the annual Border Wars, which takes place in early May. In 2018, a new face, Atlantic Coast Baseball, emerged on the North Carolina scene with their signature event, the Cap Classic, which was held in Rocky Mount the last weekend of June.
You may not realize this, but outside of North Carolina the youth baseball circuit can look very different. Many Northern teams play an exceedingly limited or completely absent fall schedule. In addition, many states have travel leagues that bring teams together over the course of multiple weeks, rather than the every-weekend tournament circuit that rules North Carolina youth baseball.
In other areas of the country, the focus of the tournaments has become less about chasing points or free berths to larger tournaments and more about the individual tournament experience for the players, coaches, and families at the events. The Ripken Experience events are prime examples of these types of efforts. Whole events have been created to bring teams from a variety of geographic locations together for a weekend or week-long tournament. The focus of these events is to provide a unique and memorable experience for the participants and families, while at the same time offering a high level of competition.
Atlantic Coast Baseball, located just outside of Pittsburgh in Trafford, Pennsylvania, is one such organization focused on providing unique and memorable experiences for the kids. Their flagship event, the Cap Classic Baseball Series, will be played at 5 different sites in the United States (Sterlington, LA; Orlando, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; Oxford, AL; and Rocky Mount, NC) in 2019.
2018 was the first time this event came to North Carolina and over 80 teams participated in the event. Over 5 states were represented in the field with some of the best teams in North Carolina participating including Canes Baseball NC - Gallaher, who finished #1 in our final 2017-2018 13u rankings. The 2019 event should be even bigger than 2018, with 20 teams already signed up, including 16 from outside of North Carolina, and a scheduled appearance by Domingo Beisbol (Ayala). This is a unique event in North Carolina and looks to provide excellent competition, as well as some new teams who might not otherwise come to North Carolina to play.
In addition to Atlantic Coast Baseball, a new tournament organization, 4040 Baseball, has recently formed in North Carolina. The focus of this organization will be strictly on the competition. They plan to do away with trophies or rings, consolation games, and silver brackets. Games are planned to be hosted in central North Carolina and should be an interesting alternative to the current dominant 3 organizations.
Increased competition on the youth baseball tournament circuit in 2019 should bring with it enhanced experiences for all participants. Atlantic Coast Baseball will look to bring unique experiences and different teams to the North Carolina baseball scene, while 4040 Baseball will be focused on ratcheting up the competition level. It remains to be seen what players, coaches, parents, and teams will be more intrigued by, but we are excited to see more opportunity for players across North Carolina.