Around the State Recap (Top Gun) 10/12-10/13/19

Despite rain on Sunday, there were dozens of ranked teams in action this past weekend across the Top Gun sites in the Carolinas. This included 6 top 20 teams in the 12u field at the Triangle region site and several games between top 10 and 20 teams. Here we recap the games from this past weekend.

 

8u

Our #3 team, Area Stars Orange, went 1-1 in pool play on Sunday at the Goldsboro/Snow Hill site. They scored a 17-6 win over Dirtbags East but fell 18-17 against the Meadow Indians. The Clayton RailRoaders went 2-0 on Saturday with a 19-3 win over Dirtbags East and a 19-4 win over the Meadow Indians. In the semifinals on Sunday, the Area Stars scored a 21-15 win over the Meadow Indians and the RailRoaders rolled to an 18-3 win over Dirtbags East. In the finals, the RailRoaders finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 10-8 win over Area Stars Orange.

In Charlotte, rain washed out Sunday however #7 CBA Copperheads Black went 2-0 on Saturday with a 12-3 win over the Palmetto Thunder (SC) and a 21-10 win over Athletes Lab. In Indian Trail, #5 SBA Futures went 3-0 for the weekend including a 13-6 win over Aces - Burgess in the finals on Sunday.

 

9u

Our #16 team, the Carolina Spinners, earned the top seed for bracket play down in Charleston, South Carolina this past weekend scoring wins over the Columbia Canes and Spartans - Eno River in pool play. The Park Sharon Nationals went 1-1 in pool play with a 26-4 win over Spartans - Eno River and a 9-5 loss against Spartans - Long. in the #4/5 play-in game on Sunday, Spartans - Eno River rolled to a 17-7 win over Spartans - Long. In the semifinals, the Park Sharon Nationals defeated the Columbia Canes 6-5 and the Spinners notched a 14-2 win over Spartans - Eno River. In the finals, the Park Sharon Nationals took home the 9u title with a 9-3 win over the Spinners.

At the Goldsboro/Snow Hill site, #5 Dirtbags East and #12 NCDB Rivercats headlined a 12-team field. Both teams went 2-0 on Saturday, earning the #1 and #2 seed for Sunday, respectively. The Dirtbags notched wins over Holly Springs Rage - Auerbach and the EC Diamondbacks while the Rivercats topped the OC Crushers and the Garner Generals. In the semifinals on Sunday, the Rivercats scored a 20-7 win over Diamond Life Athletics and Dirtbags East topped the Walkoff Warriors 9-4. In the finals, Dirtbags East finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 9-8 win over the Rivercats.

Rain washed out Sunday competition, however on Saturday the CBA Copperheads, Carolina Phantoms and the North Lincoln Destroyers all went 1-1 against one another. At that Indian Trail site, #18 MARA Cobras went 4-0 outscoring their opponents a combined 38-16 across 4 games.

 

10u
#2 Dirtbags Black finished 4-0 for the weekend with 4 wins over ranked teams.

The D1 division in the Triangle region featured 4 of our top 20 in #2 Dirtbags Black, #8 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik, #16 East Coast Elite, and #18 NCDB Rivercats. On Saturday, Dirtbags Black went 2-0 with a 13-2 win over East Coast Elite and an 8-2 win over Fungo - Piscorik. the NCDB Rivercats went 1-1 with an 11-8 win over East Coast Elite and a 15-3 loss against Fungo - Piscorik. In the semifinals on Sunday, Dirtbags Black topped East Coast Elite 10-2 and the Rivercats scored a 5-4 win over Fungo - Piscorik. In the finals, Dirtbags Black finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 15-7 win over the NCDB Rivercats. In the D2 division, #15 Dirt Devils went 4-0 with wins over the Carolina Freedom and Dirtbags East on Saturday, followed by a win over East Coast Clippers 2028 and Dirtbags East on Sunday.

In Charlotte, our #10 team, the LBC Swarm went 2-0 on Saturday with 2 shutouts, defeating the Carolina Lynx 16-0 and the LBC Outlaws 8-0. Coul-Oak Diesel was also 2-0 on Saturday, as was Legacy Baseball (SC) and the Tega Cay Titans (SC). The Gold bracket on Sunday was unfortunately rained out. At the Indian Trail site, rain wiped out the finals, however Ultimate Performance was 2-0 prior to that with wins over the Carolina Cannons (SC) and the Harrisburg Renegades on Saturday. In the Triad region, 3 teams - #4 HPT HiToms, #7 Summerfield Stars, and the Carolina Impact - faced off in a double round robin format event. The HiToms finished 3-1 after bouncing back from an 11-7 loss to the Stars in game 1 followed by a 13-10 win over the Impact, an 18-3 win over the Impact and a 5-4 win over the Stars on Sunday. The Stars scored a 16-6 win over the Impact in their other game to finish 2-1 for the weekend.

 

 

 

11u

At Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina this past weekend, 3 NC teams made the trip to play in the 11u age group. Union County Crush - Walker took home a Silver bracket title, finishing 3-1 for the weekend with an 11-1 win over the Summerville Vapor in the finals. At the Goldsboro/Snow Hill site, there were no ranked teams in action, although 13 teams competed against one another. In the end, it was a team from Virginia, the TopHand Reds, who took home the title, going 4-0 including a win over Carolina Rampage Baseball in the finals on Sunday.

In Charlotte, 3 teams went undefeated on Saturday including #18 LBC Thunder, the Triple Crown Lookouts, and Park Sharon Nationals - Garcia. Similar to other age groups in Charlotte, Sunday was rained out.

 

12u

At Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina this past weekend, 3 NC teams made the trip to play in the 12u age group. The L-town Lightning was the only one of the 3 to make the Gold bracket after they scored a 2-1 win over RISE (VA) and a 10-1 win over the Columbia Canes in pool play. On Sunday, the Lightning notched a 10-2 win over the Vapor in the semifinals and finished off the finals with another 2-1 win over RISE to complete an undefeated 4-0 weekend.

The 12u Open division at the Triangle region site was loaded with 6 of our top 20 teams including #1 Rawlings Prospects NC, #2 Canes Baseball NC - Foster, #5 SBA Futures, #8 West Raleigh Blue, #12 Carolina Titans - Ambrose, and #17 Canes Baseball NC - Naylor. The Prospects earned the #2 seed for Sunday with an 11-2 win over the Wendell Knights and an 11-6 win over the SBA Futures. The Futures earned the #5 seed in the Gold bracket with a 12-4 win over Canes Baseball NC - Naylor in their other pool play game. Canes - Foster scored the #1 seed for Sunday with a 10-4 win over Dirtbags Platinum and a 12-2 win over VA Squires Navy on Saturday. The NCDB Rivercats 12u2 went 2-0 on Saturday with a 4-3 win over West Raleigh Blue and an 8-3 win over Carolina Titans - Ambrose. In the #4/5 play-in game on Sunday, the SBA Futures edged Titans - Ambrose 4-3. In the #3/6 play-in games, the Rivercats notched an 8-1 win over Canes - Naylor. In the semifinals, the SBA Futures blanked Canes - Foster 4-0, however the other semifinal between the Rivercats and the Rawlings Prospects was rained out, as was the finals. At the Goldsboro/Snow Hill site, the East Carolina Bombers went 4-0 for the weekend, including an 11-1 win over OC Sluggers Red in the finals.

In Charlotte, 7 teams finished 2-0 on Saturday in the field of 16. Undefeated teams included #13 CBA Copperheads Black, #19 LKN Hurricanes, Team Carolina, Mooresville Legends, DB Raptors Dubs, Carolina Cannons (SC), and PRO Prodigy Green (SC). In a combined 11u/12u age group in Indian Trail, the Cabarrus Bandits went 4-0 for the weekend, outscoring 4 teams a combined 48-6 including a 4-1 win over the Bulldogs in the finals.

 

13u

In the 54/80 Open division in the Triangle region, #16 Team Ghost scored the #2 seed with a 15-7 win over East Coast Clippers 2025 and a 16-12 win over #15 Durham Blues - Clegg. The Durham Blues topped the East Coast Clippers 7-2 in their other pool play game to score the 4th and final seed in the Gold bracket. On Sunday, Team Ghost topped NCABC Fungo - Waltman 6-5 and EC Diamondbacks - Bass edged the Durham Blues 4-3. In the finals, Team Ghost scored an 8-6 win over EC Diamondbacks - Bass to take home the 13u crown.

In Charlotte, Gold bracket play was rained out on Sunday. Prior to that, 4 teams including the LBC Attack, Team 24 Gamecocks - Lowery (SC), Indian Trail Rivals, and SBA Patriots Black all went 2-0 on Saturday in this 14-team field.