With over 300 teams in action between just the Charlotte and Triangle Region Top Gun sites this past weekend, we were forced to split our Top Gun recap into two parts this week. Part 1 will focus on just the Charlotte and Triangle tournaments sites where there was some big time action. 10u #1 Canes Baseball NC – Gilchrist received a scare before getting rained out and 8u #1 Carolina Threshers and 12u #1 Legends both went down…and that was just at the Triangle site. Take a look at our recap of the Charlotte and Triangle Region Top Gun tournaments sites from this past weekend.
Charlotte
8u
The Tega Cay Titans (SC) went 2-0 on Saturday with a 15-6 win over the Belmont Bandits and a 15-0 win over the Carolina Storm. Kings Mountain Storm also went 2-0 in pool play with a 10-9 win over the Belmont Bandits and a 17-2 win over the Carolina Storm. In the semifinals, the Belmont Bandits scored a 14-3 win over Kings Mountain while the Titans rolled to a 19-2 win over the Storm. In the finals, the Belmont Bandits scored a 7-6 win over the Titans to complete their comeback from an 0-2 pool play showing.
9u
#13 Lake Norman Thunder went 2-0 on Saturday with a 22-21 win over Force Baseball and a 16-7 win over SBA LKN Canes Rinaman which earned the Thunder the #2 seed for bracket play. LKN Hurricanes – Phillips earned the top seed for bracket play with a 10-6 win over the Belmont Bandits and an 11-1 win over the Bulldogs. In the semifinals, the Lake Norman Thunder topped LKN Hurricanes – Mann 14-6 and the Mount Holly Lightning beat LKN Hurricanes – Phillips 14-5. In the finals, the Thunder scored a 10-0 win over the Lightning to finish the weekend 4-0.
10u
American
#10 Rawlings Stars opened the weekend in dominant fashion going 2-0 on Saturday with an 18-0 win over Spartans – Triplett and an 11-4 win over the Carolina Spinners and earned the #1 seed for bracket play. #11 Belmont Bandits also had an impressive run in pool play as they went 2-0 on Saturday with a 12-4 win over the Lake Norman Hammerheads and a 10-0 win over the Panthers, and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. In the play-in games the Spinners scored a 10-8 win over the Bulldogs and Copperheads – Snell/Heis edged out the Panthers 5-3. In the semifinals, the Stars took a 17-9 win over the Spinners while the Bandits scored a 9-5 win over the Copperheads to set up the showdown between the Rawlings Stars and the Belmont Bandits in the finals. In the finals, the Bandits rode a strong offensive performance to a 13-4 win over the Stars.
National
Battalion went 2-0 on Saturday with an 8-5 win over the Belmont Bombers and a 13-8 win over Team Carolina and earned the top seed for bracket play. SBA Canes LKN earned the #2 seed for bracket play with a 15-14 win over the Davidson Force and a 14-4 win over the Concord Comets. In the semifinals, SBA Canes LKN topped Elite Baseball EBC 17-9 while Battalion beat the Belmont Bombers 8-2. In the finals, SBA Canes LKN scored a 10-6 win over Battalion to finish undefeated for the weekend.
11u
American
#5 LKN Attack only played on Saturday and went 2-0 with a 7-5 win over the Weddington Warriors and an 8-1 win over East Rowan 11u. 10u #4 East Rowan went 1-1 on Saturday with a 3-2 loss to the On Deck O’s and a 21-4 win over the Carolina Reds. #15 OTK Saints also went 2-0 on Saturday with a 15-2 win over Copperheads – Russ and a 10-5 win over the Vision Bandits and earned a spot in the Gold bracket. #16 LKN Hurricanes earned a spot in the Gold bracket as well with an 11-1 win over Team 24 Gamecocks – Latham (SC) and a 5-3 win over Athlete’s Lab Crushers. In the Gold bracket semifinals, East Rowan 10u scored a 17-7 win over the On Deck O’s and the LKN Hurricanes beat the OTK Saints 6-4. In the finals, the Hurricanes rolled to an 18-5 win over East Rowan 10u.
National
Copperheads – Rowlands went 2-0 in pool play with an 11-1 win over the Catawba Chaos and a 10-0 win over the Stealth Elite Thunderbirds and earned the top seed for bracket play. Team USA Diamond King earned the #2 seed for bracket play with a 9-2 win over Carolina Fury – Matthews and a 16-4 win over GSB Grizzlies. The South Park RedHawks also went 2-0 in pool play and scored a 10-1 win over SBA LKN Canes – Pickard and a 14-5 win over the Davidson Force, which earned them the #3 seed for bracket play. In the semifinals, Team USA Diamond King scored a 15-5 win over the South Park RedHawks and the Copperheads notched a 17-2 win over the Lake Wylie Warriors. In the finals, Team USA Diamond King topped Copperheads – Rowland 11-1.
12u
American
#6 East Rowan went 2-0 in pool play with a 16-3 win over Copperheads – Gaffney and a 9-0 win over Copperheads – Dimenna and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown (SC) earned the top seed in the Gold bracket with a 22-0 win over the On Deck O’s and a 13-3 win over the South Park Rebels. #15 5 Star LKN scored an 11-3 win over Copperheads – Sumner and a 10-3 win over #18 SBA LKN Carolina Cobras in pool play and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. The Cobras scored a 2-0 win over the Carolina Tide in their other pool play game and received the #4 seed in bracket play. In the gold bracket play-in games, Copperheads – Dimenna beat SBA LKN Carolina Cobras 8-5 and 5 Star LKN topped the South Park Rebels 7-4. In the semifinals, Copperheads – Dimenna beat Team 24 – Brown 3-2 while East Rowan scored an 8-2 win over 5 Star LKN. In the finals, East Rowan completed their undefeated weekend with a 13-3 win over Copperheads – Dimenna.
National
The Carolina Cobras earned the top seed for bracket play with a 13-3 win over Copperheads – Shabosky and a 5-4 win over the OTK Saints. The Saints scored a 17-12 win over the South Carolina Predators in their other pool play game and earned the #5 seed for Gold bracket play. GSB Grizzlies – Teeth earned the #2 seed with an 8-7 win over the HQ4 Clippers and a 2-0 win over Cherryville Baseball. In the play-in game, the Saints scored a 15-1 win over the HQ4 Clippers. In the semifinals, the Saints topped the Cobras 9-5 while GSB Grizzlies – Teeth notched an 11-3 win over the Mooresville Biscuits. In the finals, the Saints edged out the Grizzlies for a 5-4 win.
13u
60/90 two-day
#8 Carolina Havoc – Clonch was dominant on day 1, scoring a 24-0 win over OTK – Maggs and a 14-0 win over Copperheads – Query en route to the #1 seed for bracket play. #11 Dirtbags Charlotte went 2-0 on Saturday as well with a 12-2 win over Stars Baseball and a 5-4 win over the Park Sharon Nationals and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. Fury Baseball received the #2 seed in the Gold bracket after a 12-2 win over Stealth Elite Blackhawks and a 5-1 win over Elite 9 (SC) in pool play. In the play-in games, Bluechip Athletes topped the Blackhawks 8-2 and Dirtbags Charlotte took an 11-1 win over Copperheads – Query. In the semifinals, the Havoc edged Bluechip Athletes 4-3 and Dirtbags Charlotte rolled to a 12-1 win over Fury Baseball. In the finals, the Havoc completed an impressive 4-0 weekend with a 7-1 win over Dirtbags Charlotte.
60/90 one-day
Team 24 Gamecocks – Zohner (SC) went 2-0 in pool play with a 26-1 win over GSB Grizzlies – Claws and a 15-0 win over the Triple Crown Lookouts and earned a spot in the finals. They faced the Charlotte Nationals in the finals after the Nationals scored a 10-2 win over Rivals Baseball (SC) and a 9-3 win over Copperheads – Evernham in pool play. In the finals, Team 24 – Zohner topped the Nationals 9-2.
Triangle Region
8u
Hybrid
#1 Carolina Threshers went 2-0 in pool play with a 13-1 win over 7u West Raleigh Blue and a 16-11 win over #13 Carolina Stingers and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. #2 Dirtbags Black also went 2-0 with a 17-5 win over #7 Youngsville Phantoms and a 16-0 win over West Raleigh Red and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. The Phantoms fell 6-1 against former #1 West Raleigh Blue in their other pool play game. West Raleigh Blue scored an 11-2 win over the Carolina Stingers in their other pool play game and earned the #1 seed for bracket play. #9 NCDB Rivercats went 2-0 in pool play with an 11-6 win over West Raleigh Red and an 11-10 win over 7u West Raleigh Blue.
In the bracket play play-in game, the NCDB Rivercats topped the Youngsville Phantoms 13-9. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black gave the Threshers just their second loss as an 8u team, and first loss of the spring, with a 9-3 win, while West Raleigh Blue topped the Rivercats 8-1. In the finals, West Raleigh Blue picked up right where they left off this fall with a 10-6 win over Dirtbags Black. For the weekend, West Raleigh Blue scored wins over 4 ranked teams including #2, #7 (x2), and #9.
Coach Pitch
East Coast Elite went 2-0 on Saturday with a 10-9 win over North Wake Fungo and a 4-2 win over the East Carolina Bombers and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. The #1 seed went to the Carolina Storm Surge who topped the Carolina Freedom 9-2 and scored a 20-2 win over the Rocky Mount Marshals 2029 in their pool play games. The Carolina Rampage received the #2 seed after a 14-5 win over the Rocky Mount Marshals 2028 and a 15-2 win over the Carolina Crushers in pool play.
In the play-in games, North Wake Fungo notched an 8-4 win over the Carolina Freedom and East Coast Elite blasted their way to a 16-1 win over the Carolina Raiders. In the semifinals, Fungo scored an 11-0 win over the Storm Surge while East Coast Elite took a 5-1 decision over the Rampage. In the finals, East Coast Elite completed a 5-0 weekend with a second 1-run win over Fungo, this time scoring another 10-9 win in a heart breaker for Fungo
9u
Open
Not all games were able to be completed on Saturday afternoon in pool play due to rain. #6 Smash Baseball fell twice in pool play with a 10-8 loss to West Raleigh Red and a 4-3 loss to GBI Express. West Raleigh Red also scored a 5-4 win over MVP Red on Saturday, while GBI notched a 12-2 win over MVP Red in their other pool play game. In the only other game played on Saturday in the 9u division, the Wilson Reds topped #11 Dirtbags East 6-1.
Unfortunately, as we detailed earlier, the 9u age group fell victim to the questionable cancellation of Sunday games in Knightdale and did not complete any bracket play games.
D3
In the D3 tournament, the Carolina Freedom went 2-0 in pool play with a 19-2 win over C35 2027 and a 19-5 win over the Carolina Armor and earned the top seed for bracket play. Bomberz Baseball earned the #2 seed with a 20-4 win over the Carolina Raiders and an 11-8 win over the Rocky Mount Marshals 2027. In the play-in games, the Armor topped the Raiders 20-6 and Marshals 2027 blanked C35 2027 6-0. In the semifinals, the Carolina Freedom edged the Armor 9-8 while the Bomberz scored a 9-3 win over Marshals 2027. In the finals, the Freedom completed an undefeated weekend with a 16-4 win over Bomberz Baseball.
10u
D1
Only a few games were played in the D1 division this weekend due to the Knightdale cancellation discussed above. #1 Canes Baseball NC – Gilchrist was able to get in two complete games and scored a 16-0 win over #5 Dirtbags Platinum and a 9-6 win over #8 Rock Solid Red. Rock Solid Red was also credited with a 4-2 win over Dirtbags Platinum in their other pool play game, however this game only went 3 1/2 innings because of rain.
Similar to the 9u age Open Division, this excellent group of teams didn’t get to face off on the field as games were cancelled for Sunday in Knightdale.
D2
#16 Youngsville Heat went 2-0 on Saturday with a 9-6 win over West Raleigh Red and a 10-2 win over the South Wake Storm and earned the top seed for bracket play. West Raleigh Red scored a 9-5 win over South Wake Storm in their other pool play game and earned a spot in the Gold bracket for Sunday. #14 Alamance Patriots also went 2-0 on Saturday with a 12-8 win over the Carolina Armor – Blue and an 11-3 win over Area Stars – Stanton to earn the #2 seed for bracket play. In the Gold bracket semifinals, the Heat blanked the Area Stars 10-0 while West Raleigh topped the Patriots 12-9. In the finals, the Heat completed a 4-0 weekend with a 10-0 win over West Raleigh Red.
D3
The Carolina Raiders earned the top seed for bracket play with an 11-3 win over the Orange County Crushers and an 8-4 win over the HYAA Hawks. The Cleveland Hustle went 0-2 on Saturday with a 12-6 loss to the Sanford Buzz and an 18-9 loss to the HYAA Hawks. In the play-in game, the Hustle topped the Buzz 20-5. In the semifinals, the Crushers edged the Hawks 10-9 while the Hustle scored a 14-9 win over the Raiders. In the finals, the Hustle completed a 3-0 day and a bounce back from a winless run in pool play with an 11-3 win over the Orange County Crushers.
11u
Open
#9 Cleveland Wildcats Elite went 1-1 on Saturday with an 8-7 loss to the Dirt Devils and an 8-4 win over West Raleigh Red, but fell to the Silver bracket for bracket play. #14 Carolina Pilots went 0-2 on Saturday with a 16-5 loss to #18 North Wake Fungo and a 12-9 loss to the Alamance Angels and were relegated to the Bronze bracket. Fungo fell 9-8 to the Alamance Angels in their other pool play game and fell to the Silver bracket. The Hill City Sliders (VA) earned the top seed for bracket play with an 11-1 win over West Raleigh Red and an 9-7 win over West Raleigh Grey. West Raleigh Blue earned the #2 seed with an 8-7 win over Purpose Driven South and a 23-3 win over the Wendell Sharks. In bracket play, the Alamance Angels topped West Raleigh Grey 18-4 in the play-in game. In the semifinals, West Raleigh Blue edged out South Johnston 3-2 while the Sliders scored a 1-run win over the Alamance Angels. In the finals, the Sliders blanked West Raleigh Blue 4-0 to take home the 11u Open division title.
D3
On Saturday, Cleveland Wildcats Blue scored a 9-4 win over the Ballhogz and a 7-6 win over the HYAA Hawks while the North Wake Avalanche fell 14-8 to the Ballhogz and 6-2 to the HYAA Hawks. On Sunday, the Hawks scored a 10-2 win over the Ballhogz and the Wildcats topped the Avalanche 7-6 to reach the finals. In the finals, the Hawks scored a high-scoring 17-15 win over over Cleveland Wildcats Blue.
12u
D1
The D1 division was loaded with talented players and teams with 6 top 20 teams as well as previously ranked Canes Baseball NC – Harland all in the field. #1 Legends Baseball looked the part on Saturday scoring an 11-0 win over Archers and a 17-2 win over West Raleigh Blue and earned the top seed for bracket play. #5 Carolina Rockies went 1-1 on Saturday with a 10-3 loss to #11 Sanford Cobras and a 9-8 over #20 NCDB Rivercats, but fell to the Silver bracket for bracket play. The Cobras fell 9-4 to #10 Carolina Thunder in their other pool play game and earned the #5 seed in the Gold bracket. The Rivercats topped Carolina Titans – Wilson 5-4 in their other pool play game and earned the #6 seed in the Gold bracket. The Thunder notched a 9-5 win over Carolina Titans – Wilson in their other pool play game, and earned the #3 seed for Gold bracket play. Xtreme Heights (VA) earned the #2 seed for bracket play with a 13-9 win over Pirates Baseball and an 8-2 win over the New Bern Flames. Canes Baseball NC – Harland also went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-10 over the Walkoff Wildcards and a 17-4 win over CB Elite and earned the #4 seed for bracket play.
In the Gold bracket play-in games, Canes – Harland edged the Cobras 9-8 and the Thunder topped the Rivercats 10-8. In the semifinals, Canes – Harland scored an 11-1 win over Legends Baseball while the Thunder topped Xtreme Heights 14-10. In the finals, Canes – Harland completed an impressive weekend run with a 12-5 win over the Carolina Thunder. For the weekend, Canes – Harland was 5-0 and scored wins over #1 Legends, #10 Carolina Thunder, and #11 Sanford Cobras on Sunday.
D2
In the 10-team D2 field, Rock Solid Blue went 2-0 on Saturday with a 14-3 win over the Carolina Yankees and an 8-7 win over the Youngsville Punishers and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. Deep River Elite earned the top seed for bracket play with a 2-1 win over the Carolina Bag Boys and a 12-4 win over the Carolina Freedom. In the play-in games, the Carolina Freedom rolled to a 17-2 win over North Wake Fungo and the Wendell Nationals scored a 14-7 win over the River City RedBirds. In the semifinals, Deep River scored a 7-1 win over the Freedom and Rock Solid Blue topped the Nationals 11-8. In the finals, Rock Solid finished out an undefeated weekend with an 8-3 win over Deep River.
D3
12u #20 NCDB Rivercats played up in the 13u D3 division and went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-0 win over the North Raleigh Tsunami and a 15-4 win over Hammerheads – Purple which earned them the top seed for bracket play. The Durham Blues earned the #2 seed with an 11-3 win over Zone Select and a 16-1 win over the Clayton Stampede. In the play-in games, the Bandits topped the Southwestern Wake Sliders 11-7 and the North Wake Hurricanes scored an 11-7 win over the Orange County Crushers. In the semifinals, NCDB notched an 11-3 win over the Bandits and the Hurricanes topped the Blues 15-10. In the finals, the Hurricanes pulled out a 6-5 win over NCDB to take home the title.
13u
60/90
D1
#13 Carolina Naturals went 2-0 on Saturday with a 19-0 win over the NSA Stealerz and a 4-3 win over #16 Walk Off Warriors. The Warriors topped the Stealerz 24-4 in their other pool play game. #15 Rawlings Prospects NC went 1-1 on Saturday with a 14-5 win over Dirtbags Platinum – Teague and an 8-4 loss to the Carolina Rage, who fell 10-7 to Warhawks Baseball in their other pool play game. In the semifinals, the Walk Off Warriors topped Warhawks 5-1 while the Prospects scored a 10-7 win over the Naturals. In the finals, the Prospects rolled to an 11-2 win over the Warriors.
D2
#19 PITT413 fell 6-2 to Carolina Titans – Ambrose in their only pool play game. TPA Nationals – Foster went 2-0 on Saturday with a 6-2 win over the West Raleigh Skeeters and an 18-17 win over Purpose Driven Baseball. In the Gold bracket semifinals, the Skeeters topped the Titans 12-6 and Nationals – Foster blanked the South Wake Storm Red 14-0. In the finals, the Skeeters edged the Nationals 10-9 to take home the title. In the Silver bracket, PITT413 scored a 10-2 win over Purpose Driven and an 11-2 win over the Morehead City Mavericks.
54/80
Open
4 pool play games did not get completed due to rain on Saturday. #18 Five Star Carolina went 1-0 on Saturday with a 10-1 win over the Five Star Wildcats. 12u Rawlings Prospects NC went 1-0 on Saturday with a 6-5 win over the Five Star Wildcats. The Clayton Cyclones also went 1-0 on Saturday with a 12-3 win over the Riptide. In bracket play, Riptide scored a 7-2 win over the HYAA Hawks in the play-in game. In the semifinals, the Cyclones blanked the Rawlings Prospects 15-0 while Five Star Carolina scored a 7-5 win over the Riptide. In the finals, the Cyclones scored a 6-1 win over Five Star.
D3
The Knightdale Smoke went 2-0 on Saturday with an 11-7 win over Carolina Crusaders for Christ and a 10-7 win over the Raleigh Fury. The Clayton Stampede went 2-0 in pool play as well with a 9-2 win over the Carolina Makos and a 7-6 win over the Garciaparra Baseball Group. In the semifinals, the Smoke beat the Fury 10-6 while the Stampede rolled to an 11-1 win over the Carolina Crusaders for Christ. In the finals, the Smoke completed an undefeated weekend with an 11-2 win over the Stampede.
Of note, 13u #1 Canes Baseball NC – Gallaher went 4-0 playing in the 14u BBCOR age group. On Saturday they scored a 15-0 win over MVP Athletics Red and a 5-0 win over the NCBA Red Sox. In the semifinals they topped the Red Sox again, this time by the score of 4-3. In the finals, the Canes put up another shutout with an 8-0 win over the South Wake Storm.