11u End of Season Rankings Recap 2017-2018

We saw a lot of competition this spring for the top spot in the 11u age group. SBA Canes - Ross entered the spring #1, and for much of the spring they stayed atop the rankings. However, there were several contenders who made strong cases to be #1. In the end, the decision came down to 4 teams: SBA Canes - Ross, Five Star Carolina - Neyra, the Carolina Blue Sox, and Canes Baseball NC - Simpson. In the end, we settled on SBA Canes - Ross at #1. Here's our reasoning for that decision and the rest of the top 20.

1. SBA Canes - Ross

   SBA Canes - Ross entered the spring season #1 in our rankings after posting a 21-5 record in the fall that included two wins over current #4 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, wins over #5 Mission Vipers Gold, two wins over #8 Big Game 2025, and a win over #10 Carolina Athletics. This spring they picked up right where they left off with a semifinal appearance at the President's Day Super NIT in Florida against some of the best teams in the Southeast. They finished 51-16-2 this spring, and 72-21-2 overall. Of their 16 losses this spring, 8 came against 12u competition. They scored 9 wins against top 20 teams including another win over Canes - Simpson, two wins over #10 Carolina Athletics, a win over #12 SBA Canes - Erwin, 4 wins over #14 Vision Bandits, and a win over #17 OTK Saints. They also notched  win over the East Cobb Colt .45's Navy, who finished #8 in USSSA's 11u Majors National Power Rankings, the East Cobb Astros, who finished 47th in USSSA's 11u Majors National Power Rankings, and 4 wins over the Five Star Tigers - Demarini (FL), who finished 52nd nationally in USSSA's 11u Majors Power Rankings.  Canes - Ross also recently scored a big tournament win at the Triple Crown Club Nationals.

2. Five Star Carolina - Neyra

   Five Star - Neyra reached the top of our rankings this spring after beating both #1 SBA Canes - Ross and #3 Carolina Blue Sox on their way to the 11u PGBA Invitational title in June. This spring they finished 29-5 and scored wins over #1 Canes - Ross, #3 Carolina Blue Sox, #5 Mission Vipers Gold, #8 Big Game 2025, and #10 Carolina Athletics. Combined with a 19-8 record in the fall that included 3 wins over Big Game 2025, a win over #15 NCDB Rivercats, a win over 12u #6 Carolina Rattlers and 12u #9 Majestic Greensboro, Five Star - Neyra finished 48-13 overall. Of their 13 total losses, 7 came against 12u competition.

3. Carolina Blue Sox

   The Carolina Blue Sox also reached the top spot in our 11u rankings this spring, after finishing the fall season at #7 in our rankings. The Blue Sox went 34-11 this spring, and 10-6 last fall to finish at 44-17 overall. Of their 17 losses, 8 came against 12u competition. In the fall season, 5 of their 10 wins came against top 20 teams including a win over #5 Mission Vipers Gold, a win over #9 Lake Norman Hurricanes, two wins over #12 SBA Canes - Erwin, and two wins over the #14 Vision Bandits. The continued to improve throughout the spring season and notched wins over #1 SBA Canes - Ross, #2 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, #4 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #5 Mission Vipers Gold, #7 LKN Attack, two more wins over Canes - Erwin, and another win over the Vision Bandits. In addition, the Blue Sox scored a win over 10 #1 SBA Canes - Marconi. The highlight of the spring came with a title run at the USSSA Beast of the East Super NIT in April.

4. Canes Baseball NC - Simpson

   Perhaps no team in the state was playing as good of baseball at the end of the season as Canes Baseball NC - Simpson. After starting the spring 19-9, the Canes had drifted down considerably in our rankings from #3 at the end of the fall all the way to #16. They proved us wrong in a big way winning their next 25 games in a row to finish the spring at 44-9. Along the way, they scored two wins over #5 Mission Vipers Gold, a win over #10 Carolina Athletics, a win over #12 SBA Canes - Erwin, two wins over #15 NCDB Rivercats, and a win over #16 Dirtbags East. Combined with a fall campaign that saw them go 8-4-1 with a win over #1 SBA Canes - Ross and a win over #2 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, Canes - Simpson finished 52-13-1 and made a real run at the #1 spot in the final rankings. Ultimately, we left them below SBA Canes - Ross because of a 1-3 combined record against them. We left them below Five Star Carolina - Neyra as we felt Five Star overall had more quantity of top 20 wins (12 vs. 9), as well as higher quality wins (8 total wins against top 10 teams and 2 wins against top 10 12u teams vs. 5 total wins against top 10 teams). We placed the Blue Sox above them in our final rankings because they too had a higher quantity of top 20 wins (13 vs. 9) as well as higher quality wins (7 total wins against top 10 opponents vs. 5 total wins against top 10 teams).