As teams start to ramp up their schedules, we are starting to see some of the top teams go head-to-head allowing for some sorting in the rankings. The older age groups, in particular the 13u age group, remain quite stable due to inactivity of many of the top teams (presumably related to spring school sports such as baseball). Nevertheless there were some big moves in some of the age groups this week. Here’s our rationale for why we ranked teams the way we did.
8u
The top two teams (West Raleigh, Carolina Threshers) remain stable. #3 South Charlotte Cardinals dropped to 7th as they went 1-2 this past weekend with losses to current #4 East Rowan and #6 Carolina Vandals. The Lake Norman Vipers moved up to 3rd as they continue to impress, going 4-0 this past weekend and winners of 20 straight Top Gun games dating back to last fall. Dirtbags Black moved up one spot after a 3-1 weekend and silver bracket championship playing up in the 9u age group in Top Gun last weekend. As with most age groups, we remain undecided about what to do with teams that haven’t yet been active (e.g. West Raleigh, Summerfield Stars), but for now have left them in the rankings. Other teams we considered in the 8u age group included the Carolina Stingers, Carolina Young Guns, Dirtbags East, North Wake Fungo, and the Youngsville Phantoms.
9u
Although the Park Sharon Nationals didn’t come away with a USSSA Atlanta Super NIT championship, they had a solid showing against some of the best teams in the Southeast and did nothing to hurt their standing as the top 9u team in North Carolina. There were no changes in the top 6 as none of these teams were active this past weekend. SBA Canes – Simmons continues to climb our rankings, and has moved all the way up to 7th after a semifinal appearance at the USSSA Atlanta Super NIT this past weekend. The NCDB Rivercats dropped from 7th to 11th after a loss to Smash Baseball this past weekend. SBA Canes – Simmons was our big mover this week (and this spring). They moved up from 16th to 7th after a semifinal showing at the USSSA Atlanta Super NIT this past weekend. The Canes’ only losses this spring have come at the hands of Park Sharon Nationals and Force Baseball Academy (GA). The Davidson County Rippers dropped from #10 to #15 after suffering a loss to unranked Luckies in Greensboro (USSSA). Coach’s Box Broncos was a new addition to our top 20, coming in at 19th, after a 4-0 weekend, including a 4-2 win over Dirtbags East and outscoring opponents 52-6 for the weekend. We also added the Carolina Arsenal to our list at #20 after their tournament win in Charlotte (USSSA) this past weekend. Other teams we considered in the 9u age group included Carolina Combat, Carolina Havoc, Dirtbags East, Haywood Havoc, Smash Baseball, and the Wilson Reds.
10u
Canes NC – Gilchrist will be #1 unless someone from NC beats them. They are that good. They went down to Atlanta this past weekend and put on a defensive and pitching show, never allowing more than 4 runs in a game against some of the best competition in the Southeast. Can they be beat? Of course. They lost to SBA Canes – Marconi in the fall. But right now they look as good as anyone in North Carolina relative to the rest of their age group. SBA Canes – Marconi got started this past weekend playing 11u. It’s hard to know what to make of a 2-2 record against good 11u competition, but for now they’re locked into the #2 spot. We dropped the Carolina Havoc from #4 to #12 after they suffered two losses to new #20 Aces – Edwards. The Mission Vipers Gold moved up a spot to #3. The Port City Rebels move up to 4th on our list after a winning the USSSA title in Fayetteville in a field that included #7 Dirtbags Platinum, #17 Richmond Rockies, and #18 Youngsville Heat. They went 1-1 against the Dirtbags in the tournament but did beat them 11-0 in the finals. We moved Dirtbags Platinum up 1 spot after a 3-1 showing in Fayetteville including 1 win over Port City. Dirtbags East moved up from 11th to 8th after winning the Top Gun event in Goldsboro during which they went 1-1 against #13 NCDB Rivercats. NCDB moved up from #16 after going 2-1 with a 13-3 win over Dirtbags East this past weekend. The Wendell Knights dropped from 10th to 14th as they have not yet been in action this season. They’ll get started this weekend, so we’ll get our first look at them this weekend. We added the Richmond Rockies to our top 20 at #17 after they went 2-2 this past weekend with a win over #18 Youngsville Heat a win over previously ranked Sandhills Stingrays. Aces – Edwards also is new to the rankings this week at #20. The Aces are 5-1 this spring with two wins over #12 Carolina Havoc. Other teams we considered in the 10u age group included FV Wildcats, GRIT – Koonin, Sandhills Stingrays, and West Raleigh Blue.
11u
SBA Canes – Ross stayed at the #1 spot, but we moved Mission Vipers Gold up to #2 after their 8-0 start this spring including a win over #9 Big Game 2025. The Canes teams (Hood and Simpson) have not yet begun spring play so we’ll have a better feel for where to slot them once they begin play. Big Game 2025 dropped from 6th to 9th after going 2-2 this past weekend. The Carolina Blue Sox were the big upward movers of the week, going from #14 to #8 after they won the American Division in the Charlotte Top Gun event, going 4-0 with wins over #15 LKN Hurricanes and #12 LKN Attack. Team Ghost dropped from 7th to 9th after a 3-1 weekend and a loss to the Diamond Dawgs (SC). We’re not sure what to do with the Durham Blues yet. They haven’t started playing yet so they’re hanging around the middle of our top 20, but without game action there’s probably little reason to keep them so high. There were a lot of losses in the middle of the 11u top 20 this past weekend so we saw significant movement. LKN Attack moved up from #18 to #12 after a 3-1 weekend and a loss to the Carolina Blue Sox in the finals in Top Gun Charlotte. OTK Saints also moved up from 18th to 13th. The Lake Norman Hurricanes moved down from 9th to 15th after going 2-2 this past weekend. Athlete’s Lab Carolina Crushers moved down from 13th to 17th after a 1-3 weekend. The CB Kings dropped from our rankings after a 1-3 weekend with losses to new #20 Carolina Titans Blue, #14 Carolina Pilots, and Dirtbags East. North Wake Fungo was a new addition to the rankings at #17 as was the Carolina Titans Blue at #19 after they met in the finals of Top Gun Goldsboro this past weekend, with Fungo coming out on top 12-11. In the tournament, Fungo topped Dirtbags East, #19 Rock Solid Red, and #20 Carolina Titans Blue and went 4-0, while the Titans went 3-1 with wins over the CB Kings and two wins over the Carolina Pilots. Tough to justify keeping the Titans below the Pilots, but overall the Pilots have been just a bit better. Other teams we considered in the 11u age group included Brunswick Core, Carolina Astros, Carolina Athletics, CB Kings, NSA Thunder, Stanly County Titans, and the Vision Bandits.
12u
The top 6 stayed the same, with SBA LKN Carolina Cobras dropping from 7th to 12th after going 3-1 with a loss to Carolina Prime 2024, who is looking primed to start rising in our rankings this spring. Although Minion was knocked out early in the USSSA Atlanta Spring Super NIT, we see no reason to move them down given how they’ve competed within the state of North Carolina. The Sandhills Heat moved up from #10 to #7 after a 5-0 weekend. The Carolina Rockies (formerly WM9 signature) went 4-1 this past weekend in USSSA Charlotte including two wins over #19 Carolina Chaos. The losses for the Chaos moved them down from 13th to 19th. As with the 13u age group, many teams have still not yet begun to play much so we expect to see more changes in the upcoming weeks. The D1 division in the Wake County Top Gun includes #3 Legends Baseball, #11 Carolina Rockies, #12 Sanford Cobras, #16 Carolina Thunder, and #20 Canes NC – Harland so we expect to see some changes in next week’s 12u rankings. Other teams we considered this week in the 12u age group include 5 Star LKN, Carolina Prime 2024, Rawlings Prospects, Copperheads – Sumner, and the NSA Snipers.
13u
The only change we made this week was to move Diamond Thieves up 1 spot from 6th to 5th after a 4-0 weekend. This is an age group that is still awaiting the completion of spring school sports in order to get ramped up. Akadema Gray did go 3-1 playing up in the 14u age group this past weekend in USSSA Fayetteville (although two of their wins came against a 13u team).