There was lots of exciting action in Charlotte this weekend, including a match up of 10u #1 Canes Baseball NC - Gilchrist and #2 SBA Canes - Marconi, as well as an all-SBA top 5 contest between 9u #2 SBA Canes - Simmons and #4 SBA Canes - Pitts. The 13u age group featured an all-Canes Baseball final as well with #2 Canes Baseball NC - Haire and #13 Canes Baseball NC - Wearing. Here we recap some of the great games from this past weekend in Charlotte.
8u
The Carolina Reds went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-7 win over the Easton Foothills Gators and a 13-3 win over the RBA Heels. The WNC Braves were also 2-0 on Saturday with a 19-2 win over the Gators and a 17-2 win over the Heels. In bracket play on Sunday, the Reds topped the Heels 13-7 to reach the finals against the Braves. In a great finals match up the Braves outlasted the Reds for a 15-14 win to take home the title.
9u
The 9u division featured some big time teams, including 3 of our top 5 teams in North Carolina as well as perhaps the best team in South Carolina, and exciting match ups right from start on Saturday. #2 SBA Canes - Simmons started strong this weekend with a 15-7 win over #5 Carolina Blue Mizuno and an 11-2 win over Copperheads - Sigler. #4 SBA Canes - Pitts got down 5-1 through two innings against Carolina Blue Mizuno and just couldn't come all the way back, falling 6-5 in their opening pool play game. They bounced back with a 17-2 win over Carolina Combat in their second pool play game. The Mission Vipers went 1-1 in pool play with a 20-0 win over Team 24 Gamecocks - Wilson (SC) and a 14-9 loss to Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley (SC). Team 24 - Ashley also topped Tribe Maroon 13-6 in their other pool play game. In the bracket play-in game, Carolina Blue topped Tribe Maroon 22-2 to reach the semifinals. In the first semifinal game, Canes - Pitts scored a 15-7 win over Team 24 - Ashley, who's overall 9u record stands at 71-7-1, giving Team 24 just their 7th loss as a 9u team. In the other semifinal, Canes - Simmons was able to pull off an extra-innings 4-3 win over Carolina Blue Mizuno to reach the finals. In an all-SBA finals match up of top 5 teams, Canes - Simmons got down 5-0 early, but was able to string together a few productive innings and pull off a 10-8 win over Canes - Pitts.
10u
Similar to the 9u age group, the 10u age group was loaded with talented teams including #1 Canes Baseball NC - Gilchrist, #2 SBA Canes - Marconi, #14 Carolina Havoc, #15 Mission Vipers Gold, and #19 Mission Vipers Black. Canes - Gilchrist dominated their way through pool play with an 18-0 win over Elite 9 (SC) and a 14-1 win over the Mallard Creek Miners. SBA Canes - Marconi was also impressive in pool play with a 15-1 win over Mission Vipers Black and an 11-5 win over the Mallard Creek Miners. Mission Black topped West Raleigh Red 11-6 in their other pool play game. The Carolina Havoc was 1-1 in pool play with a 9-8 win over L-town and a 9-6 loss to Mission Vipers Gold. Mission Gold fell 18-13 to Elite 9 in their other pool play game. In the bracket play play-in games, Mission Gold topped Mission Black 10-6 and West Raleigh Red beat the Carolina Havoc 16-8. In the semifinals, Canes - Gilchrist rolled to a 10-1 win over Mission Gold while Canes - Marconi blasted their way to a 17-2 win over West Raleigh Red to set up a finals match up of the #1 and #2 teams in this age group. The finals was an exciting, tight game with Canes - Marconi holding onto a 3-2 lead entering the 6th inning. However in the top half of the 6th, SBA Canes - Marconi blew it open with 5 runs and then held on in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-3 win over Canes Baseball NC - Gilchrist. This was just Canes - Gilchrist's 2nd loss this spring and 4th overall at the 10u level (23-2 this spring, 46-5 overall).