It was another great weekend at the Winter World Series for Top Gun. With some of best 10u and 12u teams in the state in action, there were some exciting wins and incredible upsets. Here we detail the results from the weekend. Please note, we will not review the D3 divisions in this review.
10u
D1
#1 Evoshield Canes Gilchrist started their WWS run in dominant fashion, scoring a 13-5 win over #10 FV Wildcats and a 13-3 win over #15 East Rowan to go 2-0 in pool play and earn the #2 seed for the play-in game. #3 Clayton Fusion also opened in strong form with a 10-1 win over #18 NCDB Rivercats and a 7-5 win over South Loudoun (VA) to earn the #1 seed for the play-in game. #9 Stix earned the #3 seed for the play-in games with a 3-2 win over RBA South Rip City (VA) and a 13-6 win over the SC Jets. #7 Port City Rebels had a strong showing in pool play with a 9-7 win over #15 East Rowan and a 13-12 in over the Virginia Venom, and received the #4 seed for the play-in game. RBA South Rip City went 1-1 in pool play with a 15-5 win over the Carolina Titans (SC) in addition to their loss to the Stix. This was good enough for the #5 seed for the play-in game. The Loudoun South Eagles earned the #6 seed with a 10-2 win over the NCDB Rivercats, in addition to their loss to the Clayton Fusion. It was a disappointing pool play performance for both NCDB and the #10 FV Wildcats, who both went 0-2. The FV Wildcats lost to the SC Jets 16-14 in addition to their loss to Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist, while the Rivercats lost to both the Clayton Fusion and the Loudoun South Eagles. In the play-in game it was #12 seed FV Wildcats over #1 seed Clayton Fusion by the score of 10-7, #2 seed Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist over #11 seed East Rowan 17-4, #3 seed Stix over #10 seed Virginia Venom 18-3, #9 seed NCDB Rivercats over #4 Port City Rebles 9-7, #5 seed RBA South Rip City over #8 seed SC Jets 9-3 and #6 seed South Loudoun Eagles over #7 seed Carolina Titans 7-1. In the Gold bracket opening round games, the NCDB Rivercats edged RBA South Rip City 8-7 to set up a match-up against the FV Wildcats, while the Loudoun South Eagles rolled over Stix 14-5 to advance to the semi-finals against Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist. In the semifinals, the FV Wildcats dominated the Rivercats 15-5 while the Loudoun South Eagles shocked Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist with a 4-2 upset win to reach the finals. In the finals, it was the Loudoun South Eagles all over the FV Wildcats 10-2 to secure the Top Gun Winter World Series 10u D1 Gold bracket championship. In the Silver bracket, the Port City Rebels beat the SC Jets 10-5 but were stopped in the semifinals by the Clayton Fusion 14-3. The Virginia Venom bested the Carolina Titans 9-6 before falling to East Rowan 16-5 in their semifinal matchup. In the finals, the Fusion outlasted East Rowan 14-9 to finish 4-1 for the weekend and take the Silver bracket title.
D2
The D2 division worked a little different than the D2 division in that only the top 8 teams after pool play got a spot in the play-in game for Gold and Silver brackets, with the remaining 5 teams being relegated to the Bronze bracket. #8 Youngsville Heat rolled to a 2-0 pool play with a 6-2 win over the JG Sluggers and a 8-4 win over the Blue Ridge Tigers (VA) to earn the #2 seed for the play-in game. #16 Carolina Red Sox – Snyder also went 2-0 in pool play with a 11-1 win over the Virginia Stars – Camp and a 15-5 win over the South Wake Storm and earned the #1 seed for the play-in game. #17 Wendell Knights went 1-1 in pool play with an 11-1 win over the Carolina Titans and a 13-6 loss to North Wake Elite and earned the #6 seed for the play-in game. In the play-in games, it was the #1 seed Carolina Red Sox – Snyder falling to the #8 seed Western Branch Battle (VA) by the score of 6-5, #2 seed Youngsville Heat took out the Blue Ridge Tigers again, this time by the score of 14-4 to earn their spot in the gold bracket. #6 seed Wendell Knights took out the #3 seed North Wake Elite 11-1 in the rematch of their pool play game, and #4 seed Virginia Stars – Camp blanked the Carolina Muddawgs 8-0. In the Gold bracket semifinals, the Wendell Knights edged out the Youngsville Heat 9-6 while the Virginia Stars – Camp bested Western Branch 6-2. In the finals, the Wendell Knights were able to come away with a 11-9 win over the Virginia Stars to win the D2 World Series title. In the Silver bracket, the Blue Ridge Tigers beat the North Wake Elite 9-7 while the Carolina Red Sox – Snyder blasted the Muddawgs 17-2 in the semifinals. In the Silver bracket finals, the Red Sox just squeezed by the Tigers 13-12. The Carolina Titans took home the Bronze bracket title, beating the JG Sluggers 10-3 in the semifinals and the South Wake Storm 10-2 in the finals.
12u
D1
In a loaded field, our favorites all got off to hot starts in pool play with #1 Legends going 2-0 with a 8-0 win over Carolina Titans – Wilson and a 12-1 win over the Tidewater Horns to earn the #1 seed for the play-on game, #2 Minion also going 2-0 in pool play with an 8-7 win over the Virginia Stars and a 11-1 win over Weddington Academy to earn the #7 seed, and #3 East Rowan also going 2-0 with a 13-3 win over the Virginia Stars and a 13-2 win over the Tidewater Bombers to earn the #3 seed for the play-in game. Lynx Academy/Cell Block Baseball earned the #2 seed, going 2-0 with a 5-3 win over the Carolina Titans Blue and a 9-1 win over the VA Seminoles, and the Dirty South Bats Venom earned the #4 seed, also going 2-0 with a 14-3 win over Weddington Academy, and a 11-2 win over the Loudoun South Eagles. #8 Sanford Cobras earned the #5 seed going 2-0 in pool play with a 10-5 win over the Wilmington Pirates and a 12-1 over the Loudoun Aces Blue. #10 Carolina Thunder also went 2-0 in pool play with a 7-6 win over #16 NCDB Rivercats and a 14-4 win over Loudoun Aces Blue and earned the #8 seed for the play-in game. #11 WM9 Signature went 1-1 in pool play with an 11-1 loss to the Tidewater Horns and a 12-4 win over the Wilmington Pirates and earned the #13 seed in the play-in game. The NCDB Rivercats finished 1-1 in pool play with a 9-3 win over Longhorns Baseball, in addition to their loss to the Carolina Thunder, and they earned the #9 seed in the play in game. In the play-in games, it was #1 seed Legends Baseball over #16 Charlotte Nationals 21-3, #2 Cell Block Baseball beat #15 seed Loudoun South Eagles 6-1, #3 East Rowan took out #14 Evoshield Canes VA Black 11-1, #4 Dirty South Bats Venom edged #13 WM9 Signature 2-1, #5 Sanford Cobras bested #12 Tidewater Horns 4-3, #6 Pirate Baseball were upset by #11 VA Seminoles 10-2, #7 Minion beat the Carolina Titans – Wilson 7-1, and #8 Carolina Thunder topped #9 NCDB Rivercats 14-13 in a rematch of their pool play game. In the Gold bracket quarterfinals, Legends Baseball beat the Carolina Thunder 14-4, Dirty South Bats Venom edged the Sanford Cobras 9-8, East Rowan rolled over the VA Seminoles 12-2 and Minion beat Cell Block 8-2. In the semifinals, it was East Rowan over Minion 11-3 and Dirty South Bats Venom over Legends in a shootout, 18-16. In the finals, East Rowan was able to pull out the victory 6-3 over the Venom and bring home the championship, finishing 6-0 for the weekend.
In the Silver bracket quarterfinals, the Charlotte Nationals blasted the NCDB Rivercats 18-4, the Tidewater Horns edged past WM9 Signature 2-1, Pirate Baseball beat Evoshield Canes VA Black 5-4, and the Loudoun South Eagles beat Carolina Titans – Wilson 14-6. In the semifinals, the Tidewater Horns beat the Charlotte Nationals 7-4, and the Loudoun South Eagles edged past Pirate Baseball 10-9 to set up an all Virginia finals. In the Silver bracket finals, it was the Tidewater Horns on top of the Loudoun South Eagles 13-9 to take home the Silver bracket title. Weddington Academy took home the Bronze bracket title, beating Evoshield Canes VA Gold 12-2 in the quarterfinals, Longhorns Baseball 18-4 in the semifinals, and the Wilmington Pirates 8-6 in the finals.
D2
The D2 field was a huge, 35-team field. Our top ranked team in this division was #15 NSA Snipers and they opened the tournament by going 2-0 in pool play with a 5-3 win over the Heat and a 14-1 win over the Hill City Sliders to earn the #2 seed for the play-in games. #18 Sandhills Heat also went 2-0 in pool play with a 8-0 win over the HYAA Hawks and a 2-1 win over the Virginia Cannons to earn the #1 seed for the play-in games. The #3 seed went to RBA South Prep who scored a 7-4 win over Next Level and an 8-0 win over the Heat in their pool play games. The Youngsville Punishers earned the #4 seed going 2-0 in pool play with a 8-3 win over UA Elite and a 17-2 win over Big Game Sluggers 2024. In the play-in games, only the top 16 teams had a shot at the Gold bracket. #1 seed Sandhills Heat took out #16 seed The Performance Academy 11-3, #2 seed NSA Snipers topped #15 seed Stars Elite 11-3, #3 seed RBA South Prep was upset by #14 seed New Bern Flames 9-6, #4 seed Youngsville Punishers fell to #13 seed Virginia Cannons 13-11, #5 seed Greenville Athletics rolled over #12 seed Tidewater Outlaws 9-1, #6 seed Danville Reds edged out #11 seed Allegheny Crushers 8-7, #7 seed Carolina Rattlers toped 5 Star Carolina – Smith 12-5, and #9 seed Burgaw Nationals beat #8 Rock Solid Red 12-7. In the Gold bracket quarter finals, the Sandhills Heat beat the Burgaw Nationals 9-4, the Virginia Cannons edged Greenville Athletics 5-4, the New Bern Flames beat the Danville Reds 7-5, and the Carolina Rattlers snuck past the NSA Snipers 5-4. In the semifinals, the Sandhills Heat topped the Virginia Cannons 7-3 and the Carolina Rattlers beat the New Bern Flames 12-6 to reach the finals. In a tightly contested finals games, the Carolina Rattlers edged Sandhills Heat 7-5 to finish 6-0 for the weekend and take home the D2 Winter World Series title.
In the Silver bracket quarterfinals, Rock Solid Red edged past The Performance Academy 9-8, the Youngsville Punishers blasted the Tidewater Outlaws 17-8, RBA South Prep blanked the Alleghany Crushers 12-0, and Stars Elite beat 5 Star Carolina Smith 8-7. In the semifinals, Rock Solid Red beat the Punishers 10-4 while RBA South Prep shutout Stars Elite 15-0. In the finals, it was RBA South Prep over Rock Solid Red 4-2. In the Bronze bracket, the NSA Ballerz beat the Carolina Wildcards 7-4 in the quarterfinals, the Wendell Nationals 18-9 in the semifinals, and CDP – Pete 16-7 in the finals to win the Bronze Bracket. UA Elite won the Copper bracket and Tidewater Drillers won the Pewter bracket.