We are going to try something different with the USSSA recap from this past weekend. Because so many teams are in action at this, the recaps have become increasingly unwieldy to read and time-consuming to write. We will go by age group, but simply provide a narrative of some of the highlights across the state in each group. Let us know if you prefer this format, or the old format for our recaps.
8u
The #1 team in North Carolina, Five Star Carolina - Hilton, rolled to a 3-0 weekend at the NC State Championship in Charlotte. They outscored their opponents a combined 54-8 across 3 games. Our #8 team in NC, the SBA Futures, went 4-0 this past weekend at the Carolina Championship in the Charlotte area. They beat Union County Crush, who finished 3-1 for the weekend, by the score of 8-2 in the finals.
9u
The 9u age group at the Carolina Championship near Charlotte featured our #1 team in North Carolina, SBA Rowan, #4 SBA Futures, #10 SBA Rowan Spinners, #12 Dirtbags LKN, and #23 Union County Crush - Roadcap. Both the Futures and Dirtbags finished 2-0 in pool play, with the Futures scoring a win over SBA Rowan Spinners and the Dirtabgs notching a win over SBA Rowan. In the semifinals, the Futures topped SBA Rowan 8-2 and the Dirtbags notched an 11-6 win over Union County Crush. In the finals, the Futures finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 16-11 win over Dirtbags LKN.
10u
The Carolina Championship in the Charlotte area saw our #3 team in North Carolina, the Triple Crown Lookouts, #7 SBA Nationals, and #10 Five Star Carolina - Young, as well as the #2 team in South Carolina, Team 24 Gamecocks - Clayton, all in pool A. On Saturday, Team 24, the SBA Nationals, and Five Star - Young all went 2-0, with Five Star - Young notching a 14-7 win over the Triple Crown Lookouts, who finished 1-1 in pool play. On Sunday, in the "Red bracket" semifinals, Triple Crown fell behind 4-1 before scoring 3 in the top of the 3rd and another in the top of the 4th to edge past Team 24 by the score of 5-4. In the other semifinal game, the SBA Nationals notched an 11-6 win over Five Star - Young. In the finals, Triple Crown gave up 3 runs in the first inning but then rolled to an 11-4 win over the SBA Nationals. At the NC State Championship, also in the Charlotte area, the LKN Lightning finished the weekend 4-1 including two wins over our current #1 in South Carolina, the Carolina Cannons, who finished 1-3 for the weekend.
Our #1 team, the SBA Futures, played up in the 11u age group at the Carolina Championship. Although they went 0-2 in pool play, they notched 3 consecutive wins on Sunday to win the "Red Bracket" championship.
11u
In pool B at the Carolina Championship, the #1 team in South Carolina, Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley, the #7 team in North Carolina, Carolina Blue Trifecta, #19 Union County Crush - Walker, and the SBA Senators all finished pool play with 2-0 records. Carolina Blue Trifecta notched a 6-4 win over #17 Athletes Lab, who finished Saturday with a 1-1 record, to highlight their Saturday. In the "White Bracket" semifinals, Union County Crush rolled to an 11-1 win over Carolina Blue Trifecta, and Team 24 - Ashley scored 5 runs in the bottom of the last inning to take an 11-8 win over Athletes Lab. In the finals, Team 24 prevailed in another nail-biter, edging Union County 9-8 to finish the weekend 4-0. After racing out to an 8-3 lead through 3 innings, Team 24 gave up 2 runs in the top of the 4th, followed by 3 in the top of the 5th, before plating the winning run in walk off fashion in the bottom of the 5th inning.
At the NC State Championship, #4 Five Star Carolina - Elite finished the weekend 4-0, including a 7-5 win over Park Sharon Nationals - Garcia in the finals on Sunday. At the COVID 19 Season Opener in Greensboro, #22 NC Young Guns finished the weekend 4-0, including an 8-0 win over the DC Rippers in the finals.
#1 SBA Futures played up in the top 12u bracket at the Carolina Championship, but went 0-2-1 for the weekend with losses to NC #5 Mission Vipers Gold, and SC #7 Team 24 Gamecocks - Bailey, in addition to a tie against Mission Vipers Gold. #2 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro finished 2-0 in pool play playing up in the 12u age group at the NC State Championship. This included a 13-11 win over 12u #17 Luckies Platinum. The Luckies got their revenge in bracket play, however, scoring a 7-5 win over Park Sharon to knock them out in the opening round of bracket play. #3 SBA Nationals also played up in the 12u division at the Carolina Championship. They finished the weekend 3-2, falling 8-6 to 12u #15 SBA Senators in the finals of the "Blue Bracket."
12u
At the NC State Championship, the #3 team in North Carolina, Dirtbags Black, #7 Carolina Rockies - Culler, and 11u #2 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro all finished pool play with 2-0 records. The Rockies notched pool play wins over #9 MPC, who finished 0-2 in pool play, and #17 Luckies Platinum, who also finished pool play with an 0-2 record. In the opening round of bracket play, MPC blanked WCW Baseball 9-0, Luckies Platinum scored a 7-5 win over 11u Park Sharon - Pirro, and the Rockies shut out the Catawba Crusaders 9-0. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black rolled to a 12-0 win over MPC and the Rockies edged past the Luckies 4-2. In the finals, Dirtbags Black finished off a very impressive 4-0 weekend with a 9-1 win over the Rockies.
At the Carolina Championship, there were 4 different pools in the 12u age group, highlighted by pool C which included NC #4 SBA Futures, #5 Mission Vipers Gold, 11u #1 SBA Futures, South Carolina #7 Team 24 Gamecocks - Bailey, and Canes Baseball SC - Staats who look to be one of the best teams in South Carolina. The SBA Futures and Canes - Staats finished pool play with 2-0 records, with the Futures picking up close wins over Team 24 and Mission Vipers Gold, and Canes - Staats scoring wins over 11u #3 SBA Nationals, who also played up this weekend, and #18 CBA Copperheads Red. In the "Red Bracket" on Sunday, Mission Vipers Gold rolled to an 11-3 win over 11u #1 SBA Futures, who finished the weekend winless. In the semifinals, Canes - Staats edged past Team 24 11-10, and Mission Vipers Gold scored a 12-9 win over the SBA Futures. In the finals, Canes - Staats finished off another impressive weekend with a 10-4 win over Mission Vipers Gold. #15 SBA Senators took home the title in the "Blue Bracket" going 4-0 including an 8-6 win over 11u #3 SBA Nationals in the finals.
At the COVID 19 Season Opener in Greensboro, #6 NCDB Rivercats rolled to a 4-0 weekend, but not without a scare in the semifinals. After falling behind 6-0 heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Rivercats hit 3 home runs in to take a 7-6 heading into the 4th and final inning. They gave up 2 in the top of the 4th to fall behind again, but hit a 2-run walk off homerun in the bottom of the 4th to win it.
13u
At the NC State Championship, North Carolina's #3 team, Five Star Carolina Champions, South Charlotte Braves - Smith, and Team VA all finished pool play with 2-0 records. In the Gold bracket semifinals, South Charlotte edged past Team VA with an 8-7 victory, while the Roberson RAMblers took home a 4-1 win over Five Star Champions. In the finals, South Charlotte finished a 4-0 weekend with a 6-5 win over the RAMblers. South Charlotte fell behind 5-4 in the top of the 7th but plated one in the bottom half to send the game to extra innings. After holding the RAMblers scoreless in the top half of the 8th inning, the Braves were able to put another one across to get the extra innings win.
At the Carolina Championship, #6 Concord Athletics - Barbee, #13 LKN Hurricanes, and #16 SBA LKN 2025 Black all finished pool play with 2-0 records in pool A. In the semifinals, Concord Athletics scored a 7-2 win over the Hurricanes. In the finals, Concord Athletics - Barbee rolled to a 23-1 win over SBA LKN 2025 Black, who apparently reached the finals on a forfeit over CBC. At the COVID 19 Season Opener in Greensboro, both Big Game 2025 and the Star City Sluggers (VA) finished 2-0 in pool play on Saturday. Both won their semifinal games on Sunday to set up a showdown of undefeated teams. In the finals, Big Game 2025 finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 7-2 win over the Sluggers.
#5 Mission Vipers Gold played up in the 14u age group at the Carolina Championship, where they finished the weekend 0-3.