4 top 20 teams from last year, and two big time out-of-state teams in the 11u age group. 5 top 10 teams from our final 11u 2017-2018 rankings and the #2 team in our final 10u rankings last year in the 12u age group. Needless to say, the 11u and 12u fields were full of top-level talent this past weekend at the Perfect Game event in Greensboro. There were some tightly contested games, and excellent play. Here we recap the weekend's games.
11u
The 11u age division was set up to be a hotly contested pool play, with all 6 teams playing 3 pool play games and only the top 2 seeds advancing to a one-game final. On Saturday, West Raleigh Blue, who finished #4 in our final 10u rankings last year, went 2-0 with a 12-6 win over Canes Baseball VA - Cheetham and a 9-1 win over Dirtbags Platinum. Canes - Cheetham fell 8-2 against Dirtbags Black, who finished 8th in our final 2017-2018 10u rankings, in their other pool play on Saturday. Dirtbags Platinum also went 0-2 on Saturday with a 9-3 loss against the Carolina Havoc, who finished #15 in our final 10u rankings last year, in addition to their loss against West Raleigh. The Carolina Havoc fell 16-3 against PRO Select (SC) in their other pool play game on Saturday.
On Sunday, Dirtbags Black tied the Carolina Havoc 3-3 and fell 8-5 against PRO Select to finish 1-1-1 in pool play. Dirtbags Platinum scored an 18-13 win over Canes - Cheetham to finish 1-2 in pool play, and drop Canes - Cheetham to 0-3. West Raleigh Blue fell 3-1 against PRO Select, however at 2-1 and 3-0, respectively in pool play, these two matched up again in the one-game final. In the final, West Raleigh Blue rolled to a dominant 8-1 win to take home the PG Super 25 Qualifier title.
12u
In an absolutely loaded field, 2017-2018 11u final #1 SBA Premier went 2-0 on Saturday with a 1-0-1 with an 8-2 win over Greensboro National 2025, and a 3-3 tie against 2017-2018 11u final #2 Five Star Carolina - Neyra. In their other pool play game on Saturday, Five Star - Neyra scored a 6-6 tie against Big Game 2025, who finished #8 in our final 11u rankings last year. Big Game finished 1-0-1 with a 7-3 win over Mission Vipers Black in their other pool play game. Canes Baseball NC - Hood, who finished #6 in our final 11u rankings last year, went 2-0 on Saturday with a 10-2 win over Ultimate Performance Sports Red - Johnson and a 7-3 win over Mission Vipers Gold, who finished #5 in our final 11u rankings last year. Mission Vipers Gold notched a 4-1 win over Greensboro National 2025 in their other pool play game on Saturday to finish 1-1 for the day. The 11u TPA Nationals, who finished 2nd in our final 10u rankings last year, went 1-1 in pool play with an 8-2 win over Mission Vipers Black and an 8-6 loss against Ultimate Performance.
On Sunday, in the #8/9 consolation game, Greensboro National 2025 scored a 6-5 win over Mission Vipers Black. In the quarterfinal play-in games, Big Game 2025 edged past the TPA Nationals 6-4, Five Star - Neyra scored a 1-run 6-5 win over Mission Vipers Gold, and SBA Premier notched an 11-3 win over Ultimate Performance. In the semifinals, Canes - Hood, who received a bye into the semifinals as the top seed from pool play, just edged out Five Star - Neyra 3-2, while SBA Premier blanked Big Game 2025 8-0. In the finals, Canes Baseball NC - Hood made the first big statement of the fall in the 12u age group with an 11-4 win over SBA Premier, to finish 4-0 for the weekend and secure their spot in the Perfect Game Super 25 championships next summer.