8u
Not too many changes this week in the 8u rankings, although we've expanded to 16 teams in our state-wide rankings. East Rowan has established themselves firmly in the top spot with a tournament win a the Beast of the East (BoE) this past weekend. We moved the MARA Mud Dawgs into our rankings this week after their performance at the BoE. Overall, they went 4-2 and made a run to the finals with wins over #7 McDowell Titans and #4 SBA Futures. Their only two losses of the weekend came against East Rowan. Their 3 losses this spring have come against East Rowan and the SBA Futures. We dropped the McDowell Titans from 5th to 7th after an 0-3 weekend at the BoE. Dry Pond, who had a nice 3-1 overall performance at the BoE, fell one spot in our rankings. In part this is related to our idea that the McDowell Titans' 4 wins over Dry Pond from the Fall 2018 season warrant keeping the Titans above Dry Pond for now. Not sure this is the correct spot for Dry Pond given their excellent showing at the BoE, but for now this is where they land in our rankings. Lugnuts Blue fell from 9 to 13th after a tough showing at the BoE, and the GBC Prospects were added to the rankings after a nice win over #5 Spartans - Mullins.
9u
The top 3 (SBA Futures, Dirtbags Black, and the LBC Vipers) remain locked in at the top of the 9u rankings, but Canes Baseball NC - Harris has moved up into the #4 spot after their 2nd place finish at the Triple Crown Capital City Invitational this past weekend moved them to 14-4 this spring. The Triple Crown Lookouts also moved up in the top 5 after the HPT HiToms posted an 0-3 weekend at the BoE. The HiToms dropped from 4th to 6th after their weekend. East Coast Elite has been the other big mover this spring, and they are now up to #8 after a 3-0 weekend this past weekend moved them to 9-0 this spring. Ultimate Performance Black Sox fell from 9th to 13th after they went 0-3 at the BoE this past weekend.
10u
#2 SBA Nationals finally got their win over #1 SBA Futures, but we don't feel its enough to moves the Futures out of the top spot. They've been too good for too long to move them out just yet, but the win by the Nationals certainly got our attention. We moved Carolina Blue up a spot to #4 after they posted wins over #6 SBA Americans and #13 Carolina Rockies Black at the BoE. We're not sure it was the right move, but its difficult to figure out how to "rank" #5 Dirtbags Black's performance this spring. They 9-3 this spring, but that has come against largely 11u competition. Its always nebulous when trying to figure out how a win over an older D2 team should be weighted against a win over a top-5 team within a team's own age group. Both are impressive in our mind, it's just difficult to parse out which is "more" impressive. Rock Solid Red has moved to 12-1 this spring and up to #7 in our rankings. They'll have a hard time moving up farther until their competition level matches that of the teams above them, but they've been impressive thus far this spring. Union County Crush - Walker has been another big mover in our rankings, and is now up all the way to #10 after they won the AAA BoE event this past weekend in Charlotte. Athlete's Lab and Five Star Heat were new editions to the rankings this week. Athlete's Lab are 6-2 this spring with a win over Five Star Heat, while the Heat are 10-2 and scored finals appearance at the AAA BoE event, including a win over previously ranked Pfafftown Raiders and the Havoc.