Lots of excellent teams were in action this past weekend at the USSSA site in Charlotte. Several top ten and even a #1 team from last year put up some impressive performances. Here we recap the weekend's games.
8u
The Dry Pond Blue Sox went 2-0 on Saturday with a 16-1 win over Team 24 Gamecocks (SC) and a 6-1 win over the Carolina Reds. The Reds scored a 14-13 win over Team 24 in their other pool play game to finish 1-1 in pool play. In the semifinal, the Carolina Reds scored a 7-2 win over Team 24. In the finals, the Dry Pond Bluesox notched a 12-8 win over the Carolina Reds to take home in the title. In the consolation game, Dry Pond notched a 15-7 win over Team 24 to finish 4-0 for the weekend.
9u
The Tega Cay Titans (SC) went 2-0 on Saturday with an 8-3 win over Kings Mountain Storm and a 14-6 over the WNC Braves. The KM Storm scored a 12-0 win over the Cherryville Bulldogs and the WNC Braves notched a 16-1 win over the Heat. The Bulldogs blasted their way to a 19-2 win over the Heat in their other pool play game. On Sunday, the WNC Braves topped the Heat 14-2 in the play-in game. In the semifinals, the KM Storm topped the Cherryville Bulldogs 11-10 and the WNC Braves scored a 7-6 win over the Titans. In the finals, the KM Storm rolled to a 9-1 win over the Braves to take home the 9u title.
10u
SBA Premier - Simmons, who finished #2 in our final 2017-2018 9u rankings, went 2-0 on Saturday with a 14-2 win over Mission Vipers Gold and a 16-1 win over Union County Crush - Walker. The Piedmont Panthers, who finished 9th in our final 9u rankings last year, also went 2-0 in pool play, scoring a 12-4 win over the Myers Park BlueSox and a 6-5 win over Union County Crush - Walker. The Carolina Reds also went 2-0 with a 7-5 win over Cherryville Baseball and a 19-6 win over Mission Vipers Blue. 9u SBA Premier, playing up in the 10u age group, went 2-0 on Saturday with a 10-6 win over Cherryville and an 11-9 win over Mission Vipers Blue. In the Gold bracket play-in games, Union County Crush - Walker topped Cherryville 9-4 and Mission Vipers Gold rolled to a 20-3 win over the Myers Park BlueSox. In the semifinals, SBA Premier - Simmons blanked Crush - Walker 10-0 and Mission Vipers Gold notched a 9-6 win over the Carolina Reds. In the finals, SBA Premier - Simmons edged Mission Vipers Gold 3-2 to finish 4-0 for the weekend. In the consolation games, the Piedmont Panthers scored a 16-3 win over the Copperheads but fell 6-5 against 9u SBA Premier. SBA Premier also scored an 18-2 win over the Copperheads and fell 17-10 against Copperheads - Sigler on Sunday.
11u
One-day
In pool play, the Myers Park Rebels scored a 15-0 win over the Indian Land Braves and a 22-1 win over the Cabarrus Bandits. The Bandits notched a 6-5 win over Indian Land in their other pool play game. In the finals, Myers Parks completed a 3-0 day on Sunday with a 16-1 win over the Bandits.
Two-day
The 10u Park Sharon Nationals, who finished #1 in our final 9u rankings last year, went 2-0 on Sunday with a 3-2 win over the Carolina Reds and an 8-3 win over the Team 24 Gamecocks. Mission Vipers Black, who finished #19 in our final 10u rankings last year, went 2-0 on Saturday with a 13-3 win over L-town and a 19-3 win over the Tega Cay Titans (SC). Mission Vipers Gold also went 2-0 in pool play with a 13-7 win over L-town and a 5-4 win over the MARA Cobras. In the quarterfinals on Sunday, Park Sharon topped L-town 8-1, Team 24 scored a 6-5 win over the Venom Stars, the MARA Cobras edged Mission Vipers Black 5-4, and the Carolina Reds scored a 9-4 win over Mission Vipers Gold. In the semifinals, Park Sharon notched a 5-2 win over Team 24 and the Carolina Reds edged the Cobras 9-8. In the finals, Park Sharon completed an undefeated weekend with a 3-1 win over the Carolina Reds.
13u
One-day
Carolina Prime went 2-0 on Sunday with a 15-0 win over SBA - Ahearn and a 4-1 win over the Aces. SBA Canes - Mendez also went 2-0 with a 7-4 win over Brohamer Baseball and an 8-3 win over the Aces. Brohamer Baseball topped SBA - Ahearn 9-5 in their other game on Sunday.
Two-day
Dirtbags Nationals went 2-0 on Saturday with an 8-3 win over OTK and a 10-2 win over the Myers Park Stampede. Dirtbags TBM, who finished 6th in our final 12u rankings last year, went 2-0 in pool play with a 12-2 win over Myers Park Stampede and a 9-2 win over OTK. Ultimate Performance Red also went 2-0 in pool play with a 9-8 win over Team 24 Gamecocks - Miller (SC) and an 18-1 win over Team 24 Gamecocks - Wilson (SC). In the quarterfinal play-in games, Team 24 - Miller notched a 7-6 win over the SC Braves - Wrenn and Ultimate Performance Red edged Team 24 - Wilson 4-3. In the semifinals, Dirtbags TBM blanked Team 24 - Miller 8-0 and Dirtbags Nationals scored a 12-2 win over Ultimate Performance Red. In a great finals game, Dirtbags TBM edged past the Dirtbags Nationals 5-4.