There was some exciting action, despite the rain, at the USSSA sites this weekend. In particular, Charlotte saw 9u #2 SBA Canes – Simmons win a great championship game against perhaps the top team in South Carolina, Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley. The 11u division featured 5 teams in the top 11 in the state and numerous match ups amongst the teams. Here we recap the USSSA games from this past weekend.
Charlotte
9u
#2 SBA Canes – Simmons went 2-0 on day 1 with an 11-2 win over SBA Canes – Goodyear and a 4-3 win over the Mission Vipers. Copperheads – Sigler scored an upset 7-4 win over 66-5-1 Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley (SC) in their opening pool play game. They fell 12-4 to the Carolina Reds in their other pool play game, while Team 24 scored a 10-1 win over the Carolina Reds in their other pool play game. In bracket play, Copperheads – Sigler scored an 11-1 win over the Carolina Reds while Team 24 notched a 9-1 win over Canes – Goodyear in the play-in games. In the semifinals, Canes – Simmons beat the Copperheads 10-4 while Team 24 scored a 12-3 win over the Mission Vipers to set up a showdown of the #2 9u team in North Carolina and perhaps the top 9u team in all of South Carolina. The finals lived up to the billing with the Canes jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning, only to fall behind 8-5 through 5 innings after giving up 6 runs in the 3rd inning. The Canes scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th to tie the game at 8 and send it to extra innings. In the top of the 7th, Team 24 scored two runs to pull ahead 10-8, however Canes – Simmons answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to take an 11-10 win in an absolutely great game.
10u
#13 Carolina Havoc went 1-1 in pool play with a 10-2 win over CBC and a 7-5 loss the Mallard Creek Miners. 9u #3 SBA Canes – Pitts also went 1-1 in pool play with a 9-6 loss to CBC and an 11-8 win over the Venom Stars. In the play in game, Canes – Pitts topped the Venom Stars 5-4. In the semifinals, the Havoc beat CBC 7-3 while the Mallard Creek Miners topped Canes – Pitts 13-12. In the finals, the Havoc got out to a 4-1 lead through the top of the 4th inning, and held on for a 4-3 win over the Miners.
11u
The 11u field was a particularly loaded field with 5 top 20 teams including #2 SBA Canes – Ross, #4 Mission Vipers Gold, #8 SBA Canes – Erwin, #10 Canes Baseball NC – Simpson, and #11 Carolina Athletics. Canes – Ross went 1-0-1 in pool play with a 10-3 win over the Carolina Astros and a 2-2 tie against #11 Carolina Athletics. The Athletics also scored a 6-3 win over SBA Canes – Erwin in pool play. Canes – Erwin went 0-2 in pool play with a 10-2 loss to Mission Vipers Gold, in addition to their loss to the Athletics. Mission Gold was 2-0 in pool play with a 14-1 win over CBC – Cunningham in addition to their win over Canes – Erwin. Canes – Simpson went 2-0 in pool play with a 7-6 win over the Carolina Travelers and a 15-5 win over the Weddington Warriors. In the quarterfinals, Canes – Erwin scored a 6-5 win over Mission Gold, Canes – Ross edged out the Carolina Athletics 8-7, the Astros topped Mission Vipers Black 5-3, and Canes – Simpson blanked the Travelers 9-0. In the semifinals, Canes – Ross scored another 1-run victory with a 7-6 win over Canes – Erwin, while Canes – Simpson notched a 6-2 win over the Carolina Astros. In the finals, Canes – Ross completed an undefeated weekend with a 7-3 win over Canes Baseball NC – Simpson, giving them their 3rd win over a top ten team on Sunday.
12u
#3 Park Sharon Nationals went 2-0 on Saturday with a 13-5 win over Academy Baseball – WCWAA and a 12-0 win over CBC – Pavone. Team 24 Gamecocks – Miller (SC) was 0-2. on Saturday with a 10-1 loss to the Blackjaxx and a 9-5 loss to the Athlete’s Warehouse. In the quarterfinals, Athlete’s Warehouse topped Blackjaxx 8-3, the On Deck O’s Black beat SBA Canes – Ritter 10-0, and Team 24 beat Ultimate Performance 14-1. In the semifinals, Park Sharon beat Athlete’s Warehouse 13-5 and Team 24 topped the On Deck O’s 10-3. In the finals, Park Sharon completed their undefeated weekend with a 7-4 win over Team 24.
13u
American Baseball went 2-0 in pool play with a 10-2 win over the South Charlotte Braves – Houseton and a 12-5 win over Ultimate Performance. Boiling Springs ThunderDogs went 1-1 in pool play with a 10-0 win over Kings Mountain Storm and a 6-5 loss to the NCBA Yankees. The South Charlotte Braves – Oliver were 1-0-1 in pool play with a 10-9 win over Ultimate Performance and a 5-5 tie against Gators Baseball. In the play-in game, the ThunderDogs topped Gators Baseball 8-0. In the semifinals, Braves – Oliver beat Weddington Academy 7-3 and the ThunderDogs topped American Baseball 14-9. In the finals, Braves – Oliver was able to edge out the ThunderDogs for a 10-7 win.
Morganton
8u
The Venom Stars went 2-0 on Sunday in this one-day event with a 7-3 win over the RBA Heels and a 7-1 win over the Asheville Braves. The Asheville Braves – Frye and the Lincoln C0unty River Rats went 1-0, with Braves – Frye topping the RBA Heels 18-1 and the River Rats topping the Asheville Braves 9-8. They, unfortunately, were unable to get in their pool play game against one another due to rain.
9u
American
The CCBA Bombers topped Diamond Mine 6-3 and the Venom Stars beat the L-town Hurricanes 18-13 in the only pool play games that were able to be played.
National
Athlete’s Lab Crushers beat RBA 15-4 and Golden Spikes beat Athlete’s Lab 5-4 in the only pool play games that were played on Sunday.
10u
In Pool A, Crosstrain went 2-0 with an 11-8 win over RBA Heels White and a 5-2 win over the L-town Lightning. In pool B, Athlete’s Lab Crushers went 2-0 with a 13-6 win over Heat Black and a 4-2 win over RBA Heels Blue. The finals were unfortunately unable to be played.
In the Canton 10u tournament, the Ramblers went 1-0-1 with a 10-0 win over McDowell and a 3-3 tie against the Mountain Exos. Mountain Exos also scored a 4-3 win over Diamond Mine to finish 1-0-1 in pool play. In the finals, the Ramblers smashed their way to a 10-1 win over the Mountain Exos.
11u
Open
#16 Carolina Rams went 0-0-1 in pool play with a 3-3 tie against Golden Spikes. Previously ranked Athlete’s Lab Crushers went 1-0 with a 19-2 win over Golden Spikes. The McDowell Titans also went 1-0 with a 5-4 win over WCW Black.
AA
The Carolina Renegades went 2-0 with a 17-2 win over WCW Red and a 8-0 win over RBA Heels Blue. Diamond Mine also went 2-0 with a 13-4 win over WCW Red and an 11-1 win over NC SWAT. The finals were unable to be played because of rain.