It was a big weekend at the Top Gun Winter World Series this past weekend. We'll start our recaps with the 8u and 9u age groups. Both the #1 8u and 9u teams were in the fields, as well as multiple other top 10 and 20 teams. It made for some great games excellent baseball all weekend. We didn't do very well in our predictions in these age groups, but to use the old adage, "that's why they play the game." Here we recap the 8u and 9u games from this past weekend at the Top Gun WWS.
8u
Cp: Hybrid
#1 West Raleigh came into the Winter World Series (WWS) 4-0 with a win over #3 Cleveland Wildcats Black already this fall. They faced off against the Wildcats in their first pool play game and fell 11-10 in a hard-fought game. They bounced back to score a 14-5 win over Area Stars - Cox in their other pool play game, while the Wildcats fell 9-3 against #2 East Rowan. East Rowan scored a 9-7 win over #5 GRIT in their other pool play game to finish with the top seed and a bye in the first round of bracket play. GRIT fell 11-10 against the Area Stars in their other pool play and had the #5 seed for bracket play.
In the #4/5 play-in game, the Area Stars again scored a 1-run win over GRIT, this time edging past GRIT with a 15-14 win. In the semifinals, West Raleigh Blue rolled to a 17-2 win over Cleveland Wildcats Black and East Rowan notched a 13-12 win over Area Stars - Cox to set up a finals match up between our top 2 teams. In a game that no doubt will foreshadow some upcoming match ups between these two powerhouses, East Rowan rolled to a 17-5 win over West Raleigh Blue to take home the 8u crown this weekend.
Our champion prediction: West Raleigh Blue
Champion: East Rowan
D3
GBI Express earned the #1 seed for bracket play after notching an 11-7 win over the Carolina Crushers and a 10-5 win over the Carolina Naturals in their pool play games. Luckies Orange earned the #2 seed with a 9-8 win over the East Carolina Bombers and a 9-6 win over the Rocky Mount Marshals 2029. Rocky Mount scored an 18-4 win over Cleveland Wildcats Red in their other pool play and earned the #3 seed for bracket play.
In the Gold bracket semifinals, Rocky Mount scored an 11-8 win over Luckies Orange and GBI Express edged past #4 seed Carolina Naturals 9-8. In the finals, the Rocky Mount Marshals completed a title run with a 15-7 win over GBI Express.
Our champion prediction: Luckies Orange
Champion: Rocky Mount Marshals 2029
9u
D1
The 9u D1 field at the WWS was absolutely loaded this year with 6 of our top 10 teams including #'s 1 and 4 and 6-9.#7 HPT HiToms earned the top seed for bracket play, scoring a 10-4 win over #9 Triple Crown Lookouts and a 16-6 win over the Western Branch Bruins (VA). #6 Canes Baseball NC - Harris earned the #2 seed for bracket play with a 7-6 win over #8 West Raleigh Blue and an 8-6 win over #4 East Rowan. West Raleigh topped Canes 757 - Roach (VA) 12-3 in their other pool play game and earned the #4 seed for bracket play. #1 Dirtbags Black, who came into the WWS with a 12-0 record, went 2-0 in pool play with a 9-6 win over Canes 757 - Roach and a 9-8 win over the Lookouts.
Quarterfinal match ups:
#1 HPT HiToms vs. #8 Canes 757 - Roach
#2 Canes Baseball NC - Harris vs. #7 Triple Crown Lookouts
#3 Dirtbags Black vs. East Rowan
#4 West Raleigh Blue vs. Western Branch Bruins
In the quarterfinal match ups, Canes 757 blasted their way to a 16-3 win over the HiToms, the Lookouts edged past Canes - Harris 11-10, Dirtbags Black scored an 8-4 win over East Rowan, and West Raleigh notched a 9-4 win over the Western Branch Bruins. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black scored a 10-0 win over the Lookouts and Canes 757 edged past West Raleigh 4-3. In the finals, the Dirtbags completed a 5-0 weekend and moved to 17-0 this fall with a 10-7 win over Canes 757 - Roach.
Our champion prediction: East Rowan
Champion: Dirtbags Black
D2
The D2 field featured 4 ranked teams in #3 Dirtbags East, #10 Greenville Athletics - Whitley, #11 Carolina Crushers 2027, and #17 NCDB Rivercats. In pool play, the Carolina Crushers went 2-0 with an 11-2 win over Rock Solid Red and a 16-6 win over the Weddington Wolves and earned the top seed in bracket play. The NCDB Rivercats earned the #2 seed with a 6-5 win over Greenville Athletics - Whitley and a 14-4 win over Rock Solid Red. Greenville topped the CB WolfPack 14-4 in their other pool play game and earned the 5th and final Gold bracket spot. Dirtbags East scored the #3 seed with a 15-9 win over CB WolfPack and an 8-7 win over the Youngsville Phantoms.
In the #4/5 Gold bracket play-in game, Greenville Athletics edged past the FV Wildcats 12-11 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Greenville scored a 13-3 win over the Carolina Crushers 2027 and Dirtbags East topped NCDB 7-6. In the finals, Greenville Athletics - Whitley got up 10-4 through 3 innings and held on for a 12-11 win over Dirtbags East.
Our champion prediction: Dirtbags East
Champion: Greenville Athletics - Whitley
D3
#16 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik was our lone ranked team in the 15-team D3 field this past weekend. They earned the #1 seed for the play-in games with an 11-1 win over Carolina Thunder Gold and a 15-0 win over the East Carolina Bombers. East Coast Elite earned the #2 seed for the play-in games with an 11-4 win over the East Carolina Bombers and a 12-4 win over Stars Baseball - Nardone (VA). Carolina Rampage Baseball earned the #3 seed with a 5-3 win over the Carolina Freedom and a 12-7 win over the Carolina Pirates.
Play-in game match ups:
#1 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik vs. #10 Carolina Thunder Gold
#2 East Coast Elite vs. #9 NOVA Battle (VA)
#3 Carolina Rampage Baseball vs. #8 NSA Select
#4 Area Stars - Smith vs. #7 Greenville Athletics - DHL
#5 Carolina Freedom vs. #6 Carolina Stingers
In the play-in games, Fungo topped Thunder Gold 12-2, East Coast Elite scored an 11-4 win over NOVA Battle, NSA select topped Carolina Rampage Baseball 7-5, Greenville Athletics - DHL blasted their way to an 11-5 win over Area Stars - Smith, and the Carolina Stingers rolled to a 19-5 win over the Carolina Freedom. Fungo earned a bye into the Gold bracket semifinals as the winner of the 1 v 10 play-in game. In the first round Gold bracket elimination game, Greenville Athletics topped the Carolina Stingers 6-4. In the semifinals, East Coast Elite edged past NSA Select 5-4 and Fungo notched an 8-4 win over Greenville Athletics - DHL. In the finals, East Coast Elite finished off a 5-0 tournament run with a 3-2 win over NCABC Fungo - Piscorik.
Our champion prediction: NCABC Fungo - Piscorik
Champion: East Coast Elite