We put together a slightly shorter version of the Rationale this week. We spent a fair bit of time explaining each team’s ranking last week, so this week we’ll focus on the big movers within each group. We’re getting to the meat of the spring schedule over the next several weeks so we expect to see lots of flux in the rankings as teams battle for positions.
8u
There’s a new #1 this week! As we discussed last week, we’ve made the decision to remove currently inactive teams from our rankings. That means 8u #1 West Raleigh Blue was dropped until they start playing travel ball again. The 32-1 Carolina Threshers moved into the top spot this week after 4-0 that did include at least one scare in which they scored two runs in the bottom of the last inning to take a one-run win over the NCDB Rivercats. Greenville Athletics dropped from #4 out of the top 10 after a 1-2 weekend moved them to 5-3 this spring. I wouldn’t expect to see them out of the rankings for long, but we’ll be looking for consistency as they’ve beat some great teams, but also lost a few unexpected ones. Dirtbags East and the Summerfield Stars are both new to the rankings this week. The Dirtbags are 11-4 this spring and scored a win over #3 Dirtbags Black this past weekend. Summerfield went 5-0 this past weekend and moved their USSSA record to 16-1 overall.
9u
We dropped Five Star Carolina – Hilton from #4 to #7 as they just haven’t been as active as others this spring, as of yet. We removed West Raleigh from the rankings for the reasons outlined above. The #9 Lake Norman Thunder, #10 Piedmont Panthers, #11 Coach’s Box Broncos, and #13 Smash Baseball all moved up 2-4 spots after some impressive wins and weekends. Smash, in particular, has rebounded nicely from a slow start to the spring to score some nice game and tournament wins in recent weeks. #17 Union County Crush – Walker, #19 Carolina Red Sox – Jones, and #20 NCDB Rivercats all struggled recently and were dropped a bit in the rankings. They all have faced some excellent competition this spring, which leads us to think they can make a similar turnaround to what Smash has done. New comers to the rankings were #16 Haywood Havoc and #18 Coastal Cyclones. We’ve debated what to do with these two for a while because their records are excellent (8-2 this spring and 37-8 overall, and 11-0 this spring and 21-2 overall in USSSA play, respectively), but they both haven’t faced as good of competition as some of the teams above and around them in the rankings.
10u
We dropped #6 Rawlings Stars 2 spots after a loss to Team 24 this past weekend. The Belmont Bandits also fell from #6 to #11 after a disappointing weekend. They’ve been really impressive this spring so we expect they’ll move back up in short order. Mission Vipers Gold also dropped a few spots to #14 after a loss to 9u #1 Park Sharon Nationals. Not sure exactly where Mission Gold fits in the top 20 yet, as it appears they had some significant roster turnover from fall to spring. The Carolina Thunder also feel from #12 to #18 after a disappointing 2-loss weekend. They’ve got some great wins this spring (2 over #7 Dirtbags Platinum), but have had a couple of tough weekends in the past few, going 1-5 in Top Gun play. Aces – Edwards was dropped from the top 20 after a 2-2 weekend. FV Wildcats are back in the top 20 at #20. They’re a hard team to read but we’ll learn a lot about them this weekend.
11u
Cleveland Wildcats Elite dropped from 6th to 11th after a 2-2 weekend and LKN Attack moved up from 10th to 7th after a 4-0 weekend at Top Gun. Canes NC – Simpson dropped from 7th to 14th as some inactivity and a 2-2 weekend has moved them down a bit early in the spring. North Wake Fungo moved up from 14th to 9th and Team Ghost moved up from 16th to 10th after a strong showings in Top Gun in which Fungo topped Team Ghost by 1 run in the finals. We dropped the Durham Blues from the rankings due to inactivity. Rock Solid Red was up from 18th to 16th after a 4-0 weekend including two wins over Canes – Simpson moved them to 9-3 this spring and 23-10 overall. Dirt Devils and the Carolina Astros were dropped from the rankings after disappointing weekends, and the Vision Bandits and Dirtbags East moved into the rankings at 18th and 20th, respectively. The Carolina Pilots dropped from 11th to 19th after a 2-2 weekend in Top Gun.
12u
There were not as many changes in the 12u rankings this weekend. Sandhills Heat dropped from 8th to 15th after going 0-3 this past weekend. We dropped Canes NC – Harland from the rankings this week as they are off to a slow 4-4 start this spring. We added in Carolina Titans – Wilson at #20 this week after a 2-1 weekend including a win over Canes – Harland.
13u
The only real change here was Dirtbags Platinum – Holt moving up from 17th to 14th a strong showing at the PerfectGame Invitational this past weekend in Georgia. For the weekend, the Dirtbags went 3-1 with a loss in bracket play to eventual champion Motor City Hit Dogs. This is a team that will continue to fluctuate in our rankings as they amass more results.